Apocalypse: Chaos Theory
by apocalypsering
Summary: Time is spiraling out of control. A strange man named Gaustal wants to stop it, but as it turns out that's easier said than done. To make things worse for Kari and her friends, nobody's really sure what Caleb is trying to accomplish. Rated T for violence.
1. Prologue

An introduction to the text:

Thank you to everyone who has read my work thus far. I hope you enjoyed the first story in this series, and I am grateful for all of the support that everyone has shown me. It is that support that drives me to continue writing.

For this next tale, however, I advise you not to expect it to seem like a sequel. Though this story picks up immediately at the end of "A Grain of Sand", it will be almost nothing like that story at all and will completely revolutionize the universe of these characters. The story is only a sequel in the sense that it features those characters.

Also, I will be abandoning the rotating narrator for the most part. While I had a great deal of fun with it while writing "A Grain of Sand", the style will undoubtedly prove unusable for the upcoming story. For this reason, I will be switching to a primary first person retrospective narrator who will occasionally have help from other narrators.

I will also be changing my words-per-chapter quota from 1,500 to 2,000. I am hoping that this will force me to use more description and character development techniques. Since I am always trying to improve my writing, I feel that raising my quota is both necessary for me as a writer and a boon for you as readers, because the chapters and characters will be more in depth than before. Also, I really do need to force myself into character development, because this next story will have many more characters that I want to be round (fully developed and complex) characters.

The Prologue of this story is the teaser chapter from "A Grain of Sand. It introduces two of the most important characters for the Apocalypse series, so if you missed it before, make sure you read it. As always, please read and review.

I would like to again thank you all for your support, and I hope you enjoy part one of this epic tale; Apocalypse: Chaos Theory.

Prologue: The Beginning of the End

_Man's becoming more corrupt now, godless, wicked, and cruel  
The soulless man stood silenced, Mary's "words" rang so true  
Chastisement worse than the flood, spread the word, its all through  
Don't kill the messenger girl  
_

_As if we haven't swam enough in this life of misery_

_Voice your prophecy, shed us some light, Feel sorrow for mankind's chance to survive,  
Swallowed lies and swim in our own tears, A stab in the dark but it wounded our will,  
We won't be here tomorrow, hold on to me for one last time_

_We've grown into the numbers, six hundred sixty six  
War breaks, a sign of the end, eternally expelled  
Look to the sky for knowledge, the stars align tonight  
Eclipse and heaven shall fall  
Now I know I've seen it all in my life of misery_

_Voice your prophecy, shed us some light, Feel sorrow for mankind's chance to survive,  
Swallowed lies and swim in our own tears, A stab in the dark but it wounded our will,  
Dust the apple off, savor each bite, And deep inside you know Adam was right,  
Lust and power, indulgence, no fear, Left with his sins, how does this end?  
We won't be here tomorrow, hold on to me for one last time_

_As the prophets shedded light on what's to come the crowds did gather  
Your time is precious, they explained, no time to worry, Messiah's coming  
Don't go to sleep tonight, darling, hold me in your arms  
These will be our final days and I can't let go_

_Walls are falling, churches burning, women ravaged, children crying  
Flesh is tearing, some still fighting  
In this world of misery_

_Voice your prophecy, shed us some light, Feel sorrow for mankind's chance to survive,  
Swallowed lies and swim in our own tears, A stab in the dark but it wounded our will,  
Dust the apple off, savor each bite, And deep inside you know Adam was right,  
Lust and power, indulgence, no fear, Left with his sins, how does this end?  
We won't be here tomorrow, hold on to me for one last time_

Caleb watched closely as Kari moved around the room. His eyes were rapidly changing colors as the lenses embedded in them flipped on and off. His eyes were naturally blue, but Slim had changed that severely. Now each time his eyes changed color, he saw the world slightly differently. Each color was a different vision setting, and as he scanned the room, his different visions told him that his opportunity had arrived. He had been debating for ages what the best course of action would be, and he had finally decided on one. The only problem was that now he couldn't seem to go through with it. He blamed it primarily on his family, and particularly on Shadowfox. The time he had spent with them had numbed his natural killer instinct, and now he felt pity for the poor girl, and that kept him from drawing his sword. In his mind, he prayed that Mew would show up to stop him, so that he'd have an excuse for not going through with it. He could then say that Mew had talked him out of it, and nobody would be able to say he just didn't have the cold, unfeeling heart that he always claimed to have.

Sure enough, his wish was granted. The little pink creature floated down from a nearby rooftop and hovered behind him, letting her presence be enough to pull Caleb away from the back window of the apartment.

"Why did you even bother coming?" he questioned.

"I don't really think that needs discussing," Mew replied in her soft, singsong voice. Of course, the voice would sound like nothing more than a soft purr to anyone who did not have Caleb's mind, his command over languages, and his ability to understand other's emotions through the tiny movements in their body.

"I told you, there is no other way. We both know what will happen if I don't," Caleb retorted.

"Let's go up to a rooftop to discuss this," Mew said as she floated up into the air. "Coming?"

Caleb watched her go, and debated staying and making her come back, just to prove a point. In the end, however, he decided that if he stayed, he risked having her not come back, and thus losing his excuse for chickening out. He crouched down on his powerful legs, and then exploded upward with incredible power. He leapt from the fifth-floor rear balcony of the building all the way to the roof of the twelve-story apartment complex behind it, alighting softly upon the graveled roof.

Caleb was technically a zafara, although in many ways he was no longer a member of the species. He had a rabbit-like body, somewhat anthromorphic, but not extremely so. He was just under four feet tall, and stood straight up on his hind legs. He had very dark yellow fur covering his entire body, except for the short white fur around his muzzle and the similar white fur which ran down from under his chin, across his chest and stomach down between his legs and ran along the bottom of his tail all the way to the end, at which an exceptionally large tuft of fur made a flat spade-shape right on the tip. His feet were almost identical to a rabbit's but his powerful legs ran mostly straight up into his body, which was a slight abnormality for his species, which usually kept its knees bent and crouched forward even when standing up. His arms were not very rabbit-like either, being long and skinny, almost lanky if it was not for the muscle that was tightly packed onto them. Physically, Caleb did not appear that strong. The fur helped to cover up a body which was very well-built and covered with lean muscle, which almost made Caleb look skinny. The biggest separation from a rabbit, however, was his ears. They were much closer to dog ears, long and floppy, hanging down over the side of his head. Zafaras normally have exceptional hearing, but Caleb's hearing abilities had been dramatically enhanced by a very old friend of his who had passed on many years ago. The last highly distinguishable feature of his species was a line of dorsal fins, the largest about four inches high and steadily decreasing in size as the progressed down his back, spaced roughly an inch apart running all along his spine down to the last six inches of his tail. They were an archaic leftover of evolution, from a million or so years ago when zafaras had been aquatic mammals. Since moving to land, the zafaras had evolved many of their appendages for survival, but for some reason the fins remained.

Caleb wore blue jeans, no shirt, and no shoes. He had two leather straps across his chest which held the sheaths for three swords on his back. The swords formed an X on his back, with the largest by itself and the other two running mostly perpendicular to it. He also had a sheathed sword strapped at each hip, and at his left hip was arguably his most valuable blade. The sheath was solid gold, and was ornately carved with tiny pictures of dragons and human warriors doing battle. The hilt of the sword was coated in golden dragon scales, and decorated with various jewels and dragon's teeth. It was molded so that the sword appeared to come from the mouth of a dragon's head, which was shaped centuries ago by the sword's creators. The sword held a great deal of power, and Caleb knew every way possible to manipulate its magic for deadly purposes.

Mew was almost nothing like Caleb. She was completely covered in very short fur of such a bright pink that it sometimes seemed to be nothing more than off-white. She appeared to be something of a short-limbed cat with bright pink fur and very large rabbit feet. She had a very long thin tail which, at the very end, grew thick for about a foot before ending. Her head appeared cat-like, but was always held very low, hiding her mouth close to her neck. Her big blue eyes seemed to penetrate everything she saw, which was not as much of an illusion as it initially seemed. Mew had the most powerful psychic mind that Caleb knew of, and Caleb knew about almost every powerful psychic in existence. Mew did not appear to be very strong, but those who knew about her knew that her docile nature masked the amazing power that she commanded.

"Let's hear it. Why are you stopping me?' Caleb demanded.

"Because you're not even giving her a chance. You have no faith in anybody but yourself, and that's your biggest problem," Mew told him.

"I have plenty of faith in people. I just don't have faith in their free will, so I'm going to take the tiny shred of free will that was given to me and use it to prevent you and Gaustal and all those other faggots from condemning her," Caleb said coldly.

"Once again, what makes you think she will fail? Even though you like to think so, you can't see the future any better than I can, and even if you could, it's not definite. Even Apocalypsering, who can look into the future, knows that what he sees can be changed by what people choose to do," Mew replied.

"You're right, Mew. I don't know what's going to happen. But spending a year on that ship, flying all over the place with all of Gaustal's little cronies will take its toll. If she dies now at least she'll have a fighting chance," Caleb said.

"Do you even understand how significant this event is, Caleb? This is the first time that all three of us have survived. This could be the last time that ever happens, and we have to give it a shot," Mew said.

"So you and Gaustal are willing to condemn her?" Caleb asked sarcastically.

"Caleb, you don't know that . . ."

"Shove it!" Caleb screamed. "I'm tired of hearing that. You know just as well as I do that there's no way she'll make it. Free choice isn't the reason to give it a shot; it's the reason not to! You know that she won't make it!"

"I won't let you kill her. You can do whatever you want to stop it from happening, but in the end the choices will be left up to her. If you try to lay a finger on her, I will stop you," Mew said slowly, staring coldly into Caleb's eyes.

Caleb pulled the sword from the golden sheath. The rubies that were the eyes of the dragon's head lit up brightly, and the blade sparkled and glowed with a mysterious golden light. "You're saying you'd fight me?" Caleb demanded. "Do you think you can win?"

"You're terribly confident for someone with your power. It's not an admirable quality," Mew said simply. She knew he understood, and she knew that those words would eat at him. He was very prideful that he didn't abuse the amazing power he had, just like she was.

Caleb sheathed his sword. He looked down at the roof, trying to think. He still knew that he wanted to stop everything from happening, but for some reason he was now unable to. He figured he could defeat Mew, though certainly not easily, but that was a fight he really wanted to avoid.

"What do I do, then? I want to stop this from happening. Give me an option," Caleb said.

"I don't see why you're so opposed to this. I think the fate of one is less important than the fate of the universe," Mew said.

"What if I don't really see it that way? I don't make very many choices, but this is one that I am making, that I don't want to have a hand in what Gaustal is going to do," Caleb said.

"Gaustal doesn't even know what you say he's going to do. Perhaps if you'd try to explain it to him, he would see things your way, but if you don't do that, then I'm afraid not even you can stop him from trying," Mew told him.

"I can't tell him. The last line of defense for me is the hope that he can't steel himself to it when he finds out at the last minute," Caleb explained.

"Then ignore it. Ignore everything we're doing. Go back home and sit and wait for it to be done," Mew told him.

"You know very well that I can't do that," Caleb said.

"Then I'm afraid I can't help you with this. I can only prevent you from making a big mistake," Mew said.

Caleb was silent. He had to think of some way to stop the events that had been set in motion, but he couldn't think of anything. For the first time in his life, he couldn't clearly see the way out of the mess that he was now in. The sensation of being totally at a loss for what to do was very new to him, and he didn't like it at all.

"Perhaps you should try to persuade Gaustal not to take them," Mew suggested, breaking Caleb's train of thought. "Despite what you may think, he has a great deal of respect for you. Even if he doesn't listen to you, you'll at least be a voice in his ear. In the end, that may very well help you, if, when he realizes the truth, he realizes all that you've done to prevent it from happening."

"He won't listen. When he gets his mind set on something, he doesn't stop until he gets what he's after. That's why he was insane enough to chase his little dream in the first place," Caleb said.

"And you don't think that dream is worth chasing?" Mew asked.

Caleb looked up again, staring squarely into Mew's eyes. "At the cost of a person's soul, no dream is worth chasing."

"If I can't convince you otherwise, I suppose we'll have to fight. We knew this was coming sooner or later," Mew said.

"I won't fight you. There's no point in doing that," Caleb said.

"You won't have a choice if you try to harm that girl again," Mew told him. "I will come after you if you do."

"I'm not going to harm her. You've convinced me that it would be rather counter productive," Caleb began.

"I'm glad you have some common sense left in you," Mew told him.

"All the same, I will do everything in my power to prevent Gaustal from completing his little quest. I will take no mercies save death when it comes to this point," Caleb said.

"I will not stand in your way, but know that Gaustal will not hesitate to fight you if he thinks you are standing in his way. As much as you disagree with him, I don't think you could bring yourself to kill him." Mew reminded him.

"I won't be so unsubtle in my approach. However, you must trust me to keep my word about not harming the girl. I'm sure you know of my speed, and so when I attempt to scare them all into not following Gaustal on his crazy mission, you will stand aside and let me do my work. Do I have your word?" Caleb asked.

"As long as I have your word that neither she nor any other among them will be harmed by your little plan," Mew said.

"The children will not be harmed, and their partners will not be killed or severely wounded. I'll give you that much," Caleb offered.

"It's a deal, then. I'll stand aside for your little plot, and I'll not inform Gaustal of what you are doing," Mew promised.

"Very well, we have ourselves a deal," Caleb said.

"At least that's settled. I think I'll lave now. I have no more business with you at the moment," Mew said.

"Well I've got something to ask you, then," Caleb said. "You keep going on and on about how this time is going to be different, just because all three of us survived. I'd like to know why you think that."

"For starters, it's not only that we all survived, but that Kari survived, and we've just finished debating how important she is. Remember, the last time she did, neither you nor I did. Secondly, Gaustal has already made more progress than he has in the past," Mew said.

"Mind clueing me in? I haven't been on that stupid toy ship of his in ages," Caleb said.

"Well, you could say that he's found Almeadon," Mew told him.

"He found it!" Caleb said, astonished. "The ancient map?"

"The very one. Now, he hasn't found it yet, but he has learned of its existence, which is another thing that has never happened before," Mew said.

"Just out of curiosity, how'd you find out about all of the previous cycles? Did you read my mind or steal Slim's files?" Caleb asked.

"Well, you explained it all to Gaustal and Sablin, and they've made it public knowledge around his ship. I had a pretty good idea about it before he told me from reading your mind, though," Mew laughed, putting her small paws up to her mouth and rolling over backwards in mid-air.

"That's why I hate psychics," Caleb muttered to himself.

"I heard that," Mew told him, laughing again in her very high pitched-squeaky purr.

"My next question is how does he plan to find the pieces?" Caleb asked.

"I guess he'll just send out search parties. If you recall, the pieces are not randomly distributed. Each piece can be used as an important map within the world in which they're hidden. There's bound to be some kind of lore about the map pieces in each of the worlds," Mew explained.

"That's pretty typical of him. Assume that this thing will be handed to him on a silver platter," Caleb said sarcastically.

"I'm sure he doesn't take it that lightly. For one thing, he expects Almeadon to be guarded by something greater than just a little monster from that world. Chaos isn't stupid, and Gaustal knows it. That's why he's trying to gather up as much power as he can, he believes that it will be necessary for finding all of Almeadon," mew said.

"So he's going to come here before he even starts to look for it?" Caleb asked.

"Yes. I believe he is picking up supplies right now, and then he will come here. You probably have about a week before he arrives," Mew told him.

"That's plenty of time. I figure to stage my little confrontation with them tomorrow, and then when they see me on the ship, they'll know not to go anywhere near it," Caleb said with an air of simplicity.

"Do you really expect that to work?" Mew asked.

"What do you mean? If I didn't expect it to work, why would I bother?" Caleb retorted, angry that Mew was doubting him again.

"It's not that you'd lose. I know very well that you can beat the living daylights out of all of them at once without taking a single hit. But have you ever considered their position? Or their past reactions to overwhelmingly powerful opponents?" Mew questioned.

"Why does it matter so much?" Caleb asked, now very annoyed.

"I'm surprised you don't see it. You and I both know that you are and always will be much more powerful than they are. They will never be able to beat you no matter how hard they try. However, they don't know that. In the past, they've been beaten down by opponents who seemed invincible at the time, and they've always found a way to win. We both know they'll never win against you, but they don't know that, because they don't understand just how powerful you are. Even if you do beat them badly, there's no reason to expect them to just run away scared. No matter how many times you tell them that you are invincible, they will still believe that there is a way to beat you. When you show up with the ship, they may be surprised, but Gaustal will placate them easily, and play you off as an arrogant wacko who just likes to pick fights. He's a master of twisting people's minds with words. When they hear that, combined with their experience of overcoming seemingly impossible odds, the only thing you have left to hope for is that they simply refuse to join. I'm cannot see the future, but I think that is rather unlikely," Mew finished.

Caleb closed his eyes and sighed. For the second time that night, Mew had gotten the better of him because he had been blinded by his own faulty logic. It was rare for him to make such an error. For him to make two in the same night was clearly a sign that his mind was not in the right place. He was silent for a long time, contemplating the possibility that he shouldn't even try to stop this. Gaustal was far too arrogant; he would never give up once he learned everything that had to be done. Caleb's only chance was to keep it a secret the entire time.

"I'm still going to fight them tomorrow," Caleb said, looking up. "As futile as it may seem, if it has a chance of working, even a small one, I'm going to try it. I don't want to put the weight of the world on this kid's head, but Gaustal will once he discovers what she is. I'm going to prevent that at all costs."

"As I have said, I will reveal nothing to him," Mew said.

There was a long silence between the two. Caleb again closed his eyes and lowered his head, deep in thought. He wondered for a few second if it would be effective at all to explain everything to Kari, the child he was so concerned about. Perhaps if he told her everything that was about to happen, and most specifically what would happen to her, they would at least leave her behind. It would make sense to do so. Then again, eventually her guilt at not fulfilling this imagined duty that the universe had assigned to her might force her to attempt it anyways. It was something that Caleb had considered, but not at length. The idea that Kari might simply accept her fate was always a possibility, and if she did, Caleb figured that it would work in her favor, but he severely doubted it. He knew far too many people who seemed to have hearts of gold but were unable to steel themselves when the moments of greatest peril came, and this child was no different. It is the nature of life to cower in the face of death, even if a person denies that they are afraid and charges headlong into sure annihilation, there is always a shadow of a doubt floating in the back of their minds, telling them to turn and flee. Caleb had felt this fear before, but he also had the supreme confidence in his own ability that made him believe that nothing could kill him, even though he owed his life to another zafara named Shred back on Neopia. She wasn't strong enough to join Gaustal's foolish little dreamboat, but Caleb still kept in touch with her. Now, however, he questioned Kari's ability to face her fate. He sensed that she would falter at the last moment, like in the ancient Biblical story of the woman who looked back at the burning city only to be turned to salt, and ultimately prove Gaustal's mission to be nothing more than a pipe dream which he had roped an entire generation into believing in.

Mew, on the other hand, was more concerned about Caleb. She knew that he understood the prophecies and what Kari could be able to do for the universe, and yet he wanted to stop it. It didn't make a great deal of sense to Mew. Caleb had always been very logical, but his actions now seemed to be anything but. She was wondering if perhaps he wasn't in his right mind. She certainly knew how powerful psychics could be, being one herself, and though she believed that Caleb was too strong to control she had never tested him and thus did not have any real reason to believe that. She wanted badly to probe his mind for answers, but she knew that he could sense that and it would only anger him.

"What's Shadow been up to lately anyways?" Caleb asked suddenly, forgetting temporarily about the problem at hand.

Mew was surprised by the question. "Haven't you visited him lately?" she asked.

"I've been really busy looking through Slim's old records, mostly the chronosphere records. I haven't been near the ship in weeks," Caleb said.

"I guess he's okay, for now anyways. He still writes and sings and stuff. Why don't you go ask him yourself?" Mew questioned.

"I will. I'll be hitching on to the ship after my little escapade here, after all," Caleb reminded her.

Caleb no longer had a biological connection to anything, really. Slim had rewritten Caleb's genetic coding, and now he was a zafara in appearance only. Shadowfox could be considered his father in the fact that Shadow had impregnated Caleb's mother, who then bore the little bundle of fur, but any remaining biological connection had been erased by Slim's tinkering with Caleb's genes.

"I think it's best that I leave now," Mew said. "Should I give any message from you?"

"Yeah, tell Gaustal that he's an ass," Caleb said, laughing for the first time that night. "You can quote me on that."

"I'll be sure to," Mew said. With a quick flash of light she disappeared. Caleb figured she had directly teleported to the ship. Not that it greatly mattered to him that she deliver the message, he told Gaustal his opinion of him on a regular basis. What mattered was that now he had a long wait until the morning, when he hoped to put his plan into action. He thought briefly about sleeping until morning, but he wasn't the least bit tired. He had just slept two nights ago, and wouldn't need to again for at least another two. So now he had to pass the long hours until it would be morning by himself.

He jumped from his current rooftop to the roof of a nearby building. He ran silently across it to the other side and proceeded to jump effortlessly up to s slightly higher roof. He continued along this roof and then hopped down to the next roof. He proceeded in this manner through the city until he reached a wide open park. He hopped down form the roof and landed softly on the grass, using one hand to steady himself. His eyes again began to flash in many different colors as he scanned the park, making sure that nobody was there to see him. A few nocturnal animals showed up in his infrared and night vision, and one or two wires and lampposts on his electrical vision, but nothing notable. His metal analysis vision, however, revealed a strange capsule buried about ten feet underground in the middle of the park. He figured it was supposed to be a time capsule, some kind of experiment being done by a school class in the city in order to learn about how time changes things. Of course, he had access to and had used the Chronosphere, which was far more complex than a simple capsule, but the thing still intrigued him.

He walked to the center of the park and looked down at the ground. Digging with his paws wasn't beneath him, but he wanted to think of an easier and less noticeable way to get to the capsule. He decided that magnetism was his best bet. He pulled out the sword that was bound at his right hip, a very long curved one-sided saber with the sharp edge forged of diamond. The rest of the sword was solid, high quality steel. He had used this trick several times, but never to pull something out of the ground. He held the hilt of the sword up to his mouth, pointing the blade away from himself, and then began to blow along the length of it. His breath quickened, and then he began to summon an amazing power that he had been given along with the golden blade which remained in its sheath. He charged his breath with electricity, sending shockwaves along the blade faster and faster, slowly beginning to magnetize it. He heard a bench about fifty feet away begin to squeak, and he paid close attention to it, just in case the magnet became strong enough to drag it over to him. Luckily, however, the ground below him split open as the capsule was dragged out of it.

It stuck to the sword until Caleb pried it off by shear strength and held it away, swinging the blade rapidly through the air to demagnetize it. He sheathed the sword and turned his attention to the capsule. He was stunned to find that it had no lid, nor any means of opening it. He began to examine it with his eyes again, checking for any kind of way that it could be opened. Finding none, he sat down in the grass, staring at the curious capsule. He couldn't fathom why any human on the planet would make a time capsule that couldn't be opened. At last his curiosity got the better of him, and he pulled out the diamond-edged saber once again. Holding the capsule out in front of him with one hand, he sliced cleanly through it with his sword. The end fell into the dirt, revealing a hollow center chamber.

Caleb once again sheathed his sword and looked inside. At first it appeared empty, but as he scanned it with his various vision settings again, he saw a rolled up piece of paper inside of it.

"Thank God I didn't accidentally slice this," Caleb said as he pulled the paper out. He unrolled it carefully. His eyes suddenly grew wide, and he stared at the paper in amazement. It was a square, about six inches by six inches, ripped on two sides, and obviously the corner piece of a map. The paper seemed very old, and yet not frail at all. The language of the few letters on it, however, gave away what it was. The language was that of Chaos, which he had only seen used a few times by Slim. This was a corner piece of Almeadon.

Caleb continued to stare at the map piece. According to Slim's records, no pieces of Almeadon had ever been found in past cycles. It slowly began to dawn on Caleb just how significant this cycle might be.

He shook his head quickly, shaking off the strange feeling that had overcome him. This was not the time or the place to reconsider his position. He picked up the capsule and tossed it in a nearby trash can, folded the map piece, shoved the slip of paper into his pocket, and walked quickly out of the park.


	2. Chapter 1: Drawing a Circle

Chapter 1: Drawing a Circle

_Welcome friends  
To seconds lost, and to starts that won't begin  
To twisted eyes that see inside, rules that always bend  
A simple task, a see-through mask, that questions where and why  
We shared our skin to occupy, and keep our piece of mind_

_Bring only what you need to survive_

_  
They burn an image from lines on my face  
They stole it from the pages that kept my place  
I stand on the outside, would die to get in  
I crawl inside just to begin again_

_It's so unfair  
This broken smile that keeps us all aware, _

_Of wishful thoughts, and scenes we lost, and times we'll never share  
I'll ask you now to show me how, to fill the circle in  
What tells us all? There is no fall, and the story never ends_

_Bring only what you need to survive_

_  
They burn an image from lines on my face  
They stole it from the pages that kept my place  
I stand on the outside, would die to get in  
I crawl inside just to begin again_

Time. Einstein came up with a famous theory which involved this rather elusive quantitative substance. He called it the Theory of Relativity. Using enormous amounts of mathematic knowledge, all the known properties of physics, and a great deal of logic, none of which are easily comprehendible to the common person, Einstein managed to prove that the faster an object moves, the slower time travels for that object. The change is very subtle, so much so that it is unnoticeable in our everyday lives, but nevertheless this theory revolutionized physics. Einstein reached into a realm that nobody had even dreamed could exist, and not even he himself knew how complex this new branch of understanding really was. Perhaps, if he had not fallen victim to the vile plague we lightly term mortality, he would have delved even deeper into this mysterious science. Perhaps, if he'd had just a little more time, he would have related Relativity to the Absolute powers of the universe. Perhaps, he may have even reached into the realm of Chaos itself . . .

.o.o.o.

It's hard to decide where I should start this story. I suppose I could start with the prophecy. After all, the prophecy is what brought about the events which changed my life forever. But I should probably start earlier. Perhaps the Primal Seed would be a good place to begin. Even that, though, needs previous explanation. So I might want to start with Queen Remedi. Meeting her may have been one of the most influential experiences of my life up to now. Still, something would be missing from the story. I might want to start with Aerial's birth, since he played such an instrumental role in this narrative. Yet that still does not tell the entire tale. Even to begin with the first time we met Gaustal would be too late. The best place is probably our very first encounter with Caleb. That was really the beginning of my role in the story. However, if you talk to him, he'll tell you that the story begins long before even that. He'll explain how the story goes back even before him. He'll explain how the story starts before any of us were even alive. How it even can be said to start long before Slim. For that matter, you could start before any life even existed. In a way, the story has no beginning. How do you decide where to start drawing a circle?

Caleb, of course, must help me to tell this story, since it is his story as well. Mew also must help, because her role is every bit as vital as Caleb's and my own. And of course the fact that there are important parts of the story which I am unable to tell for lack of witnessing them will be theirs to detail. Regardless, this story needs to be told. What we've all learned and how we learned it must be explained. And it is not even important that you hear the story that we are about to tell. What is most important is that we are telling it, that we are able to tell it, because it happened.

.o.o.o.

"Remember, if you go and die on me, when I get to hell I'll beat your ass so hard Satan'll make it my job," the boy with the long, dark, dirty-looking hair grinned jokingly.

"I'll remember," the younger boy said with a smile. Will gave his friend a tight hug. He was going to miss Shark. Of course, he had missed him a lot before the older boy came to Japan. Shark was important to him, and Will knew he wouldn't see Shark for at least a few months.

They finally released each other, and Shark walked toward the airport's security checkpoint where Michael was waiting for him. Shark waved quickly to the small assembly of kids that had come to see him and the other American digidestine off. Formal goodbyes would be impossible due to the lack of a common language, not that Shark would have bothered with them anyways. Will watched as Shark disappeared beyond the checkpoint, a sad but understanding smile on his face.

I walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently reminding him that it was now time to leave. He turned around and quickly apologized for having kept us waiting. Of course, we weren't waiting for anything in particular. None of us had anywhere to go that day.

Will was thirteen, about average height, with short black hair which he kept spiked with styling gel and dark green eyes. He was fairly strong, being a successful swimmer, and generally carried a friendly and contented attitude with him wherever he went. He almost always had two pendants hanging around his neck. One was a small silver cross which was a gift from his mother, and the other was his now infamous dark crest, its shining silver crescent moon unmistakably etched onto its surface.

I guess I should introduce myself sometime soon. My name is Kari. I'm close to Will's height, and I have light brown hair that matches my brown eyes. I had just recently taken up photography. My camera was always with me, because I never knew when something that I wanted to take a picture of would appear. I wear it around my neck on a little nylon cord. My brother was always worried that it would break someday and I'd lose it, but to me it always seemed strong enough.

Gatomon squirmed around in my backpack. She must have been getting cramped up, but I elbowed her lightly to tell her to stay still a bit longer. Even though most people would mistake her for a cat, pets weren't allowed in this part of the airport terminal, so she had to stay hidden.

With an unrushed celerity our small group left the terminal. There were four of us, not counting Gatomon. Tai, my older brother, had come along more as an excuse to get out of school than anything else. Joe, another older boy and a close friend of both Tai and me had come along because he was the only one who could drive. Their digimon as well as Will's had to wait in the car because they were all too big to be stuffed into backpacks and carried around.

Beyond the automatic doors the endless parking lot stretched out before us like some kind of strange, misshapen field which a harvester had taken nonadjacent strips out of, harvesting only about a third of his crop. The lot was perpetually full, and so Joe had been forced to park at the extreme end of the field of concrete and metal. The air was slightly chilly, with a soft breeze blowing through the lot carrying an almost autumn-like scent, with a hint of gasoline. The sky was cloudy and somewhat dark, almost as if it wanted to start raining, but just couldn't decide when to begin.

Gatomon began fidgeting again, this time with an increased urgency. I laughed lightly. "Hold on a second, I think it's safe to let Gatomon out now," I said, stopping to unzip the pack. Gatomon jumped out as if on a spring, desperate to get into the outer air.

"I am really starting to hate that thing," she said as she stretched herself out.

"Well then wait in the car next time," I smiled as we resumed walking.

"With everything that's happened recently, do you really think that's a good idea?" Gatomon asked.

"Well, hopefully we won't have any more problems like that anytime soon," Joe said. "I certainly hope not."

"Yeah, I think we all could use a break," Tai said as we reached Joe's car. The car was nothing special. Joe's previous car had crashed due to some very strange circumstances and the insurance money was not really enough to get a decent car again. The small and somewhat used vehicle had an extremely difficult time getting to the airport with the five of us and our digimon (In fact, Gatomon, Drakamon, and Uniquemon had ridden in the trunk). Now Will and I crammed ourselves into the back seat with Agumon and Gomamon, Tai and Joe's partners respectively. Gatomon sat on my lap and Drakamon, Will's snake-like digimon partner, sat on his. Tai and Joe sat in the front seats, Joe driving.

"Hey Gomamon, why don't you ride up front with Tai?" Will asked as he tried to control the squirming Drakamon.

"'Cause I like being back here with all of you," Gomamon said in a joking tone. "And Tai always drops me."

"Tai, hold onto Gomamon so we have a little more room back here," I asked as kindly as I could while squished into the seat.

"Come here, Goma," Tai said as he reached back into the back seat. Joe had started the car and was now pulling out of the space.

"Oh no, not this again," Gomamon groaned. He tried to shrink away, but there was no where to shrink away to. Tai picked him up and pulled him into the front seat.

"Is that any better?" Tai asked.

"Yes, much," I replied happily.

"I hope you're happy," Gomamon snorted.

"Calm down, Gomamon. We're going to stop in the park to let Tai and Kari out anyways, since their house is in the wrong direction and I'm very close to being late for something." Joe said.

"What is it?" Tai asked as Joe pulled out of the parking lot.

"Just another practice test," Joe said with a sigh.

"Another one?" Will questioned. "Is that all you ever do?"

"I just want to be ready for the real thing. A little extra practice never hurt anybody," Joe replied.

I stared out the window as the car rushed on down the road. The gray clouds which blanketed the sky drifted slowly along as we passed through the city. I guess I had started to daydream, because before I knew it, Gatomon was shaking me out of my daze.

"Kari, we're here," she told me. I blinked, looking around. Joe's car was stopped just outside the park. Tai was already outside, and Gomamon was sitting in the front seat alone now, rubbing his head with one flipper and muttering about something.

"Oh, right. Sorry," I said, climbing out of the car. Agumon followed quickly.

"See ya later, Kari," Will called from the other side of the seat.

"Tomorrow you're coming over to teach me some more English, right?" I asked, leaned down to look into the car again.

"Of course," Will said, smiling.

"Alright, bye," I said. Joe nodded to Tai and me, and then drove off toward Will's home. The four of us started through the park, walking slowly.

"I sure hope it doesn't rain before we get home," Gatomon said.

"Don't worry Gatomon. You can always climb back into my backpack," I smiled.

"I just want to get some sleep," Agumon said, yawning.

"What, didn't you sleep well last night?" Tai asked.

"Not really," Agumon said. Suddenly, he stopped walking. "Hey, who's that?"

"Who who?" Gatomon asked, giving him a curious look. Agumon just pointed ahead on the path.

In the center of the path, a very odd looking creature stood, facing away from us. It had a rabbit-like body, somewhat anthromorphic, but not extremely so. It was just under four feet tall and stood straight up on his hind legs. It had very dark yellow fur covering his entire body, except for the short white fur around his muzzle and the similar white fur which ran down from under his chin, across his chest and stomach down between his legs and ran along the bottom of his tail all the way to the end, at which an exceptionally large tuft of fur made a flat spade-shape right on the tip. Its feet were almost identical to a rabbit's but his powerful legs ran mostly straight up into his body. Its arms were slightly rabbit-like also, being long and skinny, almost lanky if it was not for the muscle that was tightly packed onto them. Physically, it did not appear that strong. The biggest separation from a rabbit, however, was its ears. They were much closer to dog ears, long and floppy, hanging down over the side of its head. The last highly distinguishable feature of the thing was a line of dorsal fins, the largest about four inches high and steadily decreasing in size as the progressed down his back, spaced roughly an inch apart running all along his spine down to the last six inches of his tail.

Strangely, the thing wore blue jeans, no shirt, and no shoes. It had two leather straps across its chest which held the sheaths for three swords on its back. The swords formed an X on its back, with the largest by itself and the other two running mostly perpendicular to it. It also had a sheathed sword strapped at each hip. The weapon at his left hip seemed to be the most unique. The sheath was solid gold, and was ornately carved with tiny pictures of dragons and human warriors doing battle. The hilt of the sword was coated in golden dragon scales, and decorated with various jewels and dragon's teeth. It was molded so that the sword appeared to come from the mouth of a dragon's head.

"Who, or what do you think it is?" I asked, looking up at Tai.

"I have no idea," Tai said. "Maybe its some kind of digimon."

"I've never seen anything like it," Agumon said.

"Me neither," Gatomon stated. For a few seconds we simply stared at the creature, unsure of what to do.

"Do you think it knows we're here?" Gatomon asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think we should probably just leave it alone for now," Tai said. "Let's go." With that he began to lead us off of the path, toward another section of the park. We all kept a watchful eye on the strange creature as we moved, not sure whether to be afraid or indifferent. Suddenly, almost as if someone had stepped on a twig, which nobody had, the creature turned its head toward us. We all froze.


	3. Chapter 2: The Dragonblader

Chapter 2: The Dragonblader

It seemed like an eternity passed as the four of us stared motionlessly at the figure. I'm not sure why we were so scared. Perhaps it was the swords, or the way he looked at us, or the fact that his eyes seemed to be changing somehow, though the distance made it unclear exactly how.

Seconds passed. It felt longer, but it really wasn't more than a few seconds. The thing turned toward us, slowly, deliberately. It walked toward us now, taking short, precise steps, almost as if every motion it made was planned in advance. Someone needed to say something to it. Tai was the first to find words.

"Hey," he said simply. The creature stopped. Tai gained some confidence. "Um, hi. I'm Tai," he said. The creature simply stared at him. At a much closer range, I could see his eyes more clearly. They seemed to be changing color very rapidly, almost as if some little kid in his head was playing with a bunch of switches for multi-colored light bulbs. It was a little disorienting, the way the eyes could change so crazily and yet remain as deadly poised as they were.

"Well, uh, who are you?" Tai asked. The creature suddenly closed his eyes and looked down.

"It's better if you don't know," he said. I could tell from the voice that the thing was male. It looked up again. "And I'm sorry. I've come here for one very simple reason." The eyes were flashing again, green, orange, red, yellow, pink, gray, black, purple, back to orange, never seeming to end.

"What's that?" Tai asked, staring at the creature with a worried expression creeping onto his face.

The creature suddenly pulled the sword from his right hip out with his left hand, leveling it right at me. The sword was a somewhat long and fairly thin sword, curved all the way to the tip, and sharp only on one side. That side seemed to glisten as if it were in direct sunlight, in spite of the thick cloud cover. It wasn't hard to figure out that the sharp edge was made of diamond.

"To kill her," he said, almost simply.

Gatomon and Agumon both instantly jumped in front of us, and Tai cocked his fists. All I could do was take a step back and try to hide the double-look of fear and complete surprise. Despite my fear, that was the last thing I had really expected to hear.

"Look, I don't know who or what you are, but you picked the wrong people to mess with," Tai told him.

"If you want to fight, then so be it. I'll try not to hurt you," the creature said, now pulling the ornate golden blade from its sheath with his right hand.

Gatomon was the first to act. She rushed the creature, who was only some twenty feet away, and leapt up into the air. She started to drive her fist down at him, but he reacted much too quickly. He dropped both blades to the ground and, with his left hand, caught her arm around the wrist, stopping her attack. Gatomon lashed out with her free paw, but was jerked to the side before she could make contact. In fact, as she flailed at the creature, he simply moved her around by her wrist so that her attacks would miss. It would have been hilarious in any other situation.

"This is rather sad," he said. With an effortless flick of his wrist, he threw Gatomon halfway across the park, where she landed in a pond.

"Gatomon!" I screamed, making to run after her.

"Now, where was I?" he asked himself. His tail flicked the diamond-sword back into his hand. The other sword simply rose into his right hand. He jumped into my path, but Tai knocked me out of the way before he could hit me with the golden blade. A strange force seemed to be generate by the swing, which knocked Tai backward onto the ground, even though it had missed him as well. The thing raised the other weapon, but Agumon attacked it, spitting a barrage of fireballs. The creature ducked one, and then swatted several more away with the golden blade, a flash of bright yellow light accompanying each swing. Agumon tried to attack again, but this time the creature leapt at him. Slicing through the fireball, it slammed the golden blade down at Agumon, who barely managed to role away. He didn't get far enough away, though, as the diamond sword sliced a large gash in his arm.

"The next one is going through your heart, now back off," the creature ordered.

"I don't think so," Tai said, rising to his feet, his crest glowing within him. Agumon started to glow as well, and a brilliant flash of light illuminated the park for a brief moment. When it faded, Wargreymon stood in Agumon's place.

"Never saw that coming," the creature said sarcastically. He then leapt at Wargreymon, swinging his golden sword in a wide arc in front of him. Wargreymon flew up and back slightly, avoiding the attack before rocketing up into the sky, but before he could do anything, the creature followed. It somehow managed to jump some fifty feet straight up and sliced at Wargreymon again. Wargreymon was forced to block with his claws as the creature let out what seemed like an impossible onslaught in the short time before he began to fall again. Wargreymon tried to go into a spinning attack, but was hit much sooner than he expected to be. Thee creature had somehow changed directions in midair! Wargreymon hardly had time to figure out where the strange beast was before the thing was back on top of him, slashing at his mid-section. Wargreymon was hit hard and sent rocketing into the sky as the creature fell back to the ground. Without hesitation, he ran toward me. Tai tried to get in his way, but was thrown aside with minimal effort. I turned to run, but before I had taken two steps, he landed in my path. He had leapt right over me to block my path!

"Sorry about this," he said, raising his sword, "but you'd thank me if you knew what was coming." He then rushed forward. I tried to run again, but he was moving too quickly. Just before he got to me, however, a swirling tornado of energy fell from the sky, smashing into the ground right where he was. Wargreymon had finally found his mark, or so I thought. When the tornado vanished underground, the creature was a few feet away from the hole, staring at it as if it annoyed him, like an ant on a bowl of fruit. Wargreymon burst out of the ground again, but the creature jumped almost casually to the side, avoiding the attack. Wargreymon stopped in mid-air, and I could finally see the very large slash through his chest and stomach left by the sword. Still, he started charging his Terra Force attack. The creature, however, didn't react at all. It stood there, diamond sword in one hand, gold sword in the other. Wargreymon launched the attack at last, sending a massive ball of energy straight toward the creature. The thing began spinning its diamond blade in front of it, as if he could spin it fast enough to make a disc-like shield out of it and block the attack. But that's not what he did. Not exactly. Instead, just as the ball of energy reached him, he pushed his golden blade straight through the center of the disc made by the spinning sword. Somehow his hand kept the sword spinning around the hilt of the other, but that was only the least surprising. Like a whirlwind, the spinning sword was sucking all of the energy into its center, into the golden blade. The ball of energy became smaller and smaller, slowly reduced to nothing as the whirlwind drained its power. The metal of the golden blade was rapidly increasing its glow throughout this. I finally realized that his sword was absorbing the power of Wargreymon's attack. As the orb vanished, the sword could be seen shimmering with a brilliant golden light, bright enough to surely be seen a mile away, if not farther. It was nearly blinding being this close to it.

The creature now wasted no time. In an instant he was in the air again. Wargreymon, weak from the previous blow, could only block the first two swings. The third one, executed with the golden sword, caught him right in the shoulder and sent him rocketing down toward the ground. In an explosion of light, the golden sword unleashed its charge, which followed him down in a straight stream of solid energy, spiking Wargreymon into the ground and leaving a very large crater around him. I had hardly reached him before he reverted back to Agumon, beaten.

Tai rushed over to me and grabbed my hand. "Come on, we're getting out of . . ." he stopped short. I turned, and the creature was already right behind me again.

"Well, that was distracting for a few minutes," he said coldly. "Again, I wish you could understand, but you can't. Some things just can't be helped. Goodbye," he said, raising his sword. Tai jumped at him, but was once again thrown to the side like a rag doll by this much smaller creature. I could hardly even scream as he brought the diamond sword down at me.

I'm not sure when I decided to look up. Probably after a few seconds had passed and I wasn't dead. I guess I wasn't really even sure about not being dead. I just knew that I hadn't felt a sword hit me. But when I looked up, all I could see was a strange purplish-pink blob floating in the air between the creature and me. The sword was slightly imbedded in the brightly glowing blob, and the creature now had a look of extreme anger on his face. Within the blob, I could just barely make out the outline of another creature, though I could not tell what it was at all. The sword bearing creature jumped back, sheathing both swords. The purple blob floated towards him a little, and they seemed to have some kind of staring contest as Tai ran back over to me. Then, without a word, the sword wielder leapt straight up in the air, much higher than any previous time. In fact, he leapt so high that he vanished in the gray clouds which still violently threatened to rain. Tai and I stared after him, and then we both looked back at the blob. I think I saw the outline turn to look at us, as if it wanted to speak, but it never did. After a few seconds, it followed the first creature up into the atmosphere.

Tai ran over to me and dropped down next to me. "Kari, are you all right?" he asked desperately.

"Yeah, I . . . think so," I answered shakily. My heart was racing and I wasn't thinking completely clearly. The adrenalin of almost being killed was blurring my vision and my thinking process. As the moment slowly faded, however, my mind came back to me. I realized, in the middle of Tai's tight embrace, that Gatomon might still be in the pond.

"Tai, I think Gatomon's still in the pond!" I yelled out suddenly, breaking away from his embrace.

"Oh no," was all Tai said as we both leapt to our feet and raced toward the pond.

We found Gatomon on the shore, a few feet away from the water. She was unconscious, but breathing. Breathing a sigh of relief, I bent down and scooped her up gently in my arms. She wasn't hurt too badly, but she had barely made it back to land. One side of her body was badly bruised from where she had hit the water.

"I think she'll be okay," I said hopefully. "What about Agumon?"

"He's a tough little guy, I think he'll be fine," Tai said as we headed back to the scene of the battle. Agumon was also unconscious, lying in the middle of the nearly thirty foot wide crater.

"Oh man," Tai said, thinking hard. "What do we do now? Neither of them can fight, and if that thing comes back . . ."

"Tai, I just want to go home," I said, still fighting the shaking.

"I know, Kari. I just don't think that's a good idea right now," he said as he picked up Agumon and wrestled him onto his back. "Yolei's house is the closest. I think we should go there and explain what happened. I'm sure you can stay with her tonight until everyone can meet tomorrow."

"Yeah, I suppose that's best," I said with a sigh.

The sky chose that moment to finally open up and start raining.


	4. Chapter 3: No Rest for the Wicked

Chapter 3: No Rest for the Wicked

"What do you mean you were attacked?" Yolei asked, eyes growing wide behind her glasses.

"Some weird monster thing was standing in the park and it just attacked us," Tai explained again. "It never said anything, who it was or why it was doing this."

"Um, Tai," I said, looking over at him. "It did say something." Tai looked at me, confused. Apparently he hadn't heard the creature speak. They both leaned in, waiting for me to tell them.

"It said something about knowing what's coming. It also said that we'd never understand," I said. "I don't think that's very helpful, though."

"Probably not," Tai said. "I was hoping that he gave you his name."

"Well, it's got to be a digimon, right?" Yolei asked. "We'll ask Gennai about it tomorrow.

"That's about all we can do," Tai said, looking down. "The thing seemed to be after Kari. That's why we came here. Would you mind looking after her tonight since Gatomon and Agumon are pretty beat up?"

"Of course," Yolei replied. "But what about you, Tai?"

"I'm going over to Izzy's. I thought we'd get an early start on figuring who or what this thing really is."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" I asked him. I suppose he must have seen the concern on my face. The thing had attacked me in the park, but that wasn't a good reason to expect it not to attack Tai.

"I'll be fine. As soon as Agumon is strong enough to fight, we'll be back over here. Hopefully tomorrow everyone will be able to get together and discuss this," Tai replied. He put a hand on my shoulder, trying to reassure me. I'm not sure if he was feeling all that sure of himself, but the gesture did help a little.

"I'll see you both as soon as morning comes. Get some sleep, and make sure Gatomon does too," Tai said, forcing a smile. Still carrying Agumon, he turned and walked away. I watched him go, walking lopsidedly down the street with Agumon now slung over his back. In the fading light he almost seemed to be some kind of monster himself, sulking off into the night.

Yolei did her best to accommodate me. A sleeping bag and some blankets were all I needed anyways. As I lay down next to her bed, Gatomon snuggled safely next to me; I began to wonder again about that creature to think about what it could have meant when it said we were better off not knowing. His eyes were what stuck in my head. The way they changed colors, never seeming to set on a single shade for any more than a second or two. It was absorbing my every thought that night. When I closed my eyes, I saw them staring at me through the darkness. I almost could feel them on me again, the shifting eyes that never ceased to change. Even as he stared down at me, swinging that sword, even just before that other thing saved me, the eyes were still shifting. From that closer proximity, I could recall that they had moved oddly as well. I may have been mistaken in my panic, which wouldn't surprise me, but I had thought that his eyes had been moving in different directions. One would roll left as the other rolled up, both of his pupils zipping around in his head like insane fireflies or gnats around a streetlamp.

Then another thought crossed my mind. What was the second creature? It appeared from nowhere to save me, and left just as suddenly. And the strangest thing of all, the first creature followed it. In some way, I thought I should be thankful to whatever that creature was, but it made me wonder. The first creature had no trouble taking on Wargreymon. Why didn't it attack again when the second one left? Was the second one stronger somehow? What was the second one anyways?

I don't know what exactly, but something in my mind told me to wake up. My eyes shot open and I sat bolt upright in my makeshift bed. I glanced around the room, almost feeling panicked for some reason that I couldn't quite place. Next to me, Gatomon stirred. Yolei groaned as if she'd suddenly been woken by something. Had I accidentally cried out when I sprang up? I looked around the room again, and I could suddenly feel it, feel him.I scooped a very surprised Gatomon up and hurriedly shook Yolei awake.

"Kari, what is it," the girl asked groggily.

"He's coming," I whispered. I don't know how I knew, I just did. He was somewhere, and he was looking for me. Maybe he had already found me. I had to hope not.

Yolei jumped out of bed so quickly that she almost knocked me over in the process. She grabbed her digimon, Hawkmon, and shook him awake as she rushed out of the room.

"Come on, I've got an idea," she said. I didn't need the instruction. I was following her mechanically. My mind was focused on finding the creature, or at least whatever had tipped me off that it was coming. Yolei raced down a flight of stairs, through her parent's convenience store, out into the street. I hurriedly scanned the dark sky for any sign of the creature. Nothing yet, but we kept running. My heart was racing faster and faster. Gatomon and Hawkmon, now both fully awake, said nothing. It was understood what was happening.

Yolei rushed into another nearby building and over to the stairwell. I followed close behind, looking over my shoulder the entire time to see if it was following us. We went down, into the basement of the building.

The room was large and empty, made entirely of concrete with a few support pillars. It somewhat resembled a small parking garage, but with no cars, lines, ramps, or anything for that matter save the access to the stairwell. Panting, we both collapsed against the wall. I'm sure her heart was beating every bit as fast as mine.

"Kari, did you see him?" Gatomon asked, climbing out of my arms and onto the cold floor.

"No, but I could, I sensed something," I said, still breathing hard. "I'm not sure what, but it felt like him."

"It's the chaos," the voice came from the stairwell, which was the only escape from the room. The four of us were frozen, trapped against the wall as the creature stepped out of the doorway. He looked exactly as before, the five blades strapped across his body. His eyes were closed, but I somehow knew he could see us. He could see us breath. It almost felt like he could see us think.

His eyes opened. Again, the flood of colors came with them. Red, pink, green, yellow, violet, red again, teal, black, orange, never ending. This time it was clear, his eyes were not dancing around. They were locked on the four of us, ice cold, penetrating, deadly. He didn't move, and none of us dared to do anything. Another silence like the one when we had first seen him echoed throughout the room, only this one was filled with a much more real fear than the one in the park. If he really could see me breathing, he wouldn't have been able to see it right then.

His hand went to his sword, the golden one. That was the thing that should have set us in motion. Gatomon and Hawkmon jumped in front of us, ready to protect us. Something inside me knew they didn't stand a chance. Something screamed out for me to stop them from fighting him. Maybe I screamed out again. I don't think I did, but somehow he must have heard me, for he spoke my thoughts exactly.

"Don't bother fighting me. There are only negative outcomes for that," he said, stalking forward as his blade was pulled fully from its sheath.

"Stay away from her," Gatomon said slowly, trying to sound as threatening as possible. The creature wasn't impressed. In an eye blink, it was over. He rushed forward. As Gatomon and Hawkmon tried to attack, he grabbed both of them and flung them into the nearest pillar. They crumpled to the ground in a heap of fur and feathers. There was no doubt that they were unconscious, if not worse.

"Neither of them is dead," the creature said suddenly. Again, I wondered if it could see my thoughts with those screwy eyes. They were fixed on the two digimon, the colors still flipping like crazy. They would never even take on the same color. One would be green while the other was white, then the white one would turn black and the green one would turn orange. They were mesmerizing to watch, almost like a laser light show. You could never guess which color was coming next.

His gaze shifted back to the two of us. He watched us for another few moments, the eyes scanning mercilessly over our cowering forms. It dawned on me that he might be thinking about something. What could he be thinking about? Had he been thinking about it before, in the park? He had acted awfully quickly there.

He must have decided something, because he suddenly resumed movement. Throwing Yolei out of the way, much less violently than he had the digimon, he grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pinned me against the wall. The sword with the golden glow was pressed up against my neck so that I could feel the steel warm against my skin. It didn't really surprise me that the blade wasn't cold, but then again I had several other things on my mind at the time.

"Listen to me, very, very, closely," he said, the kaleidoscope eyes now just inches away from my own. "What I am about to say may be the most important few words you will ever hear, do you understand?" he said. I say said because it wasn't really a question. I nodded an affirmation immediately, the choice to say no not even registering in my mind. "I am not going to kill you tonight," he said slowly, almost disappointedly. I didn't entirely believe him, but the words did give me a hope that maybe I would survive until morning. I had a sudden burning desire to see the sun, and I pretty much knew why. "Now listen," he continued. "I am going to let you live now based on one condition. You must agree to that condition and then fulfill it when the time comes. Will you?" he said again. He received another autonomous nod from me in return. "Good. Here it is." His face closed in on me even more, surrounding me, almost suffocating me by his mere presence. "The next time that you see me, no matter where it is or what you are doing, you will run. You will not hesitate. You will not think. You will not wait to see if I am serious. The next time you see me, you must simply run, as fast and as far away as you can. If you do that, I will never bother you again. I will leave forever and you will never even hear of me from that point on. You want that, am I right?" he instructed me. I affirmed almost before he finished, my heart still beating in anticipation to see if he really would leave me there, alive.

I slumped to the floor, completely unaware of the fact that I hadn't really been supporting myself. I wasn't a long fall, as he had hardly held me up very high, being almost two feet shorter than me. Still, I was stunned to find myself once again seated on the chilly concrete. I had the presence of mind to look back up at him. He didn't return the gaze. He walked resolutely through the door, and I can only assume up the stairs and out of the building. Beyond that, who knows other than him?

It was several minutes before I was able to breathe again, and several more before I felt Yolei's hand on my shoulder. Apparently she was in just as much shock as I was.

"Kari, are you . . . are you okay?" she asked, her voice shaking terribly.

"I think so," I said, trying to take deep, slow breaths to calm myself down.

Somewhere in the rest of that night we gathered up our digimon and checked on them. We somehow returned to Yolei's room and fell asleep again. The rest of the night is really a blur of strange feelings. For some reason I got the feeling that I had cheated somehow. Not necessarily cheated death, but just somehow cheated at whatever I was doing that night. It's hard to recall the rest in detail. I do remember the dream I had after that, though. It was the snow dream again, where I'm walking down the dark street, lined with trees, and snow is falling all around me. There was no tree branch, though. There was nothing at all to catch the snow. The street was empty for the entire dream, until the very end. That's when I saw her. Far away, at the other end of the street, a little girl stood in the snow, with blue hair that fell over her eyes and a white robe almost like what you would image an angel to wear. But I only saw her for a second, and then the sunlight from Yolei's window woke me up.


	5. Chapter 4: Going Nowhere

Chapter 4: Going Nowhere

For some reason, the sun surprised me. I didn't think that it should be sunny this morning. I thought it ought to be overcast, perhaps with a light mist falling down over the world, creating a thin shroud of water over everything. The streets should have been empty, too. There shouldn't be cars and people in them. There were, but there shouldn't have been. Nothing seemed quite right. It felt like the entire world was a little bit sideways, a pinball machine tilted so that the ball wouldn't fall in the hole at the bottom.

The morning was slightly cool, the mild breeze occasionally sending a chill through me as we walked silently down the street. Yolei walked to my left, and beyond her I could see the cars struggling by through the outer edges of Tokyo's traffic, the cars that were there in spite of the fact that they shouldn't have been. People on bicycles rode past us, weaving in and out of the slow moving cars. It would have been a perfectly normal day, if it had been any other day of the week.

Izzy was, and still is, our little group's tech nerd. Yolei strives to be like him, but she probably can't. Izzy is a boy genius of sorts, especially when it comes to computers. It was at his apartment that we had all decided to meet. By we I mean Tai, who had been there all night if his voice on the phone that morning was any indication. He was contacting everyone he could and telling them that the meeting was an emergency. I hadn't yet told him that we had seen the creature again. I wanted to tell him in person, so that he could see that I was okay. Otherwise he might have flipped out.

The apartment building was nothing terribly special. The hallway was actually a long balcony, set outdoors with another balcony from the next floor above it and with the doors to each apartment stretched along its length. They were fairly large apartments, which made Izzy's a good place for us all to meet. My feelings of mental vertigo still made everything seem slightly wrong, broken in some way. I wondered if Gatomon felt it too. Probably not, I decided, since she was just walking along behind us and not really saying much.

Izzy's mother answered the door. She was smiling, but she had a very confused expression on her face. "Hello, ladies come on in," she said, opening the door wide to let us in. I tried my best to fake a smile in return, as did Yolei, but I think we must have been more shaken up than we thought.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her smile changing to a worried almost-frown. "First Izzy and Tai are up all night, then all of you keep showing up looking really worried. Is there something wrong with the digital world again?"

"There might be," Yolei said. It was rather useless to lie. She could tell something was up. "We'll figure it out, though." Yolei assured her.

We were led to Izzy's room next. Tai and Izzy were both leaning over his computer, apparently absorbed in whatever they were looking for. Sora, Matt, and Cody were also present, all of them seemingly absorbed in Cody's laptop.

"Izzy, Tai," Izzy's mother called out. "Kari and Yolei are here." Tai spun around instantly. Everyone else looked up and greeted us.

"Hey Kari. Sorry to say, but we haven't found anything yet," Tai said. "It's good to see that you're safe, though."

"Tai, I need to talk to you about that," I said. Izzy's mom had left, and now I closed the door to the room. Everyone gathered around as I relayed to them in as much detail as I could the events of last night. Somehow retelling the story helped to alleviate whatever was making me feel strange. I guess talking about stuff really can make you feel better about it. I don't think it made Tai feel very good until I got to the end, though.

"So let me get this straight. He's not going to bother us ever again?" Tai asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That's what he said. As long as I obey his condition, he won't bother us ever again. He said we'd never even hear of him again," I explained. Now that I was actually talking about it, it really seemed like a pretty good deal. We still didn't know why he wanted to kill me, but as long as he didn't, there wasn't much reason to worry about it any more.

"And the only condition is that when you see him next, you just have to run away," Tai frowned, obviously not satisfied. "That makes no sense whatsoever. He shows up and says he wants to kill you, then suddenly he decides that he won't for no reason whatsoever."

"Well he's got to have a reason," Matt said, leaning against a wall. "Just because we don't know what it is doesn't mean he's lieing."

"That's true Matt, but remember we're dealing with Kari's life here. From what we've seen of this thing, it's incredibly powerful and can strike without warning at almost any time. While I'd like to believe what it says, as that's obviously the best outcome, we should still take every necessary precaution."

"Spekaing of every precaution, is this all the people we're going to have?" Yolei asked, looking around the room."

"Joe should be on his way. He might be here a little later due to car trouble he's been having recently," Tai explained. "Davis and Ken are still at that soccer tournament in Australia, and TK's with them. Mimi obviously can't make it, being back in New York. Will left for the US this morning sometime around one, and I haven't been able to even contact him yet."

"Right, Will told me about that. His flight was at one in the morning," I replied. It made me a little sad that he wasn't going to be here, but there was nothing to do about that. He wouldn't land for several more hours yet, and when he did it likely would be difficult or impossible for him to return to Tokyo, at least for a few days.

"That stinks," Yolei said bluntly. "So all we've got is the people in this room and Joe for now."

"Yeah, pretty much," Izzy replied.

"So what exactly have you guys found out?" Yolei asked, now walking over to look at Izzy's computer monitor.

"So far, absolutely nothing whatsoever," Izzy said with a heavy sigh. "Gennai knows nothing, he's never heard of anything like it. The digital world files contain no information on what he is or nay of the weapons he used. As far as the digital world is concerned, this thing doesn't exist."

"Does that mean that it's not a digimon?" Matt asked.

"I can't confirm that it is or isn't until I actually have more concrete data on it. Right now, though, all indications are that it is something else entirely," Izzy explained.

"Great. So we know nothing at all about this thing and we're supposed to fight it?" Yolei asked.

"Pretty much. We do know that it will take more than Wargreymon to defeat him. It might be wise to hide Kari in the digital world for a while. If he's not from the digital world, he may not be able to get into it," Izzy responded. "We also know that it fights using some kind of magical weapon. If it does come down to a fight, we may need to find a way to get it away from him."

"But according to the creature itself, we shouldn't have to fight," Sora reminded everyone. "We just run away and we'll never be bothered again."

"That's only one possibility, though. We need to prepare for the other pone as well," Tai said.

As the debate raged on, I started to feel queasy again. It may have had something to do with the fact that I hadn't eaten since we left the airport the day before, but my stomach really didn't feel like food. I got up and started out the door.

"Kari, where are you going?" Tai asked as I opened it, Gatomon following close at my heels.

"I'm just going out to get some air. I'll be okay," I said. Tai just nodded. I guess he understood.

By this time the day was starting to warm up more. The breeze still blew, partly because we were a few stories up, but the sunlight and the heat rising off the pavement below made it impossible to be cold. I leaned forward on the railing, looking out over the street. Gatomon jumped up on the railing next to me and curled up on it. Cats always have good dexterity, I guess. For a while, I watched her long, purple and white stripped tail twitch back and forth in the breeze, the golden ring at the end of it acting like a kind of very light pendulum which broke form at the slightest breeze.

"What'cha thinking about?" she asked, her eyes closed as she stretched her neck out, twisting back and forth. Even after all this time, Gatomon always made me smile. The funny little tufts of purple at the tips of her ears, the gloves she wore on her front paws, the way she could act so human and yet still so much like a cat, which is what she is.

"Nothing, I suppose," I said simply, looking back down at the street below.

"Are you still scared?" she asked, now opening her eyes to look up at me. I scooped her into my arms and pulled back away from the railing a bit, petting her head with one hand while holding her with the other.

"I don't think so," I said, and I actually meant it. "I think that the monster was telling the truth, and that this problem is solved. It wouldn't make much sense for him not to be." I smiled, finally relaxing for the first time all morning.

"You sure?" Gatomon asked, purring as a scratched her ears gently.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I said, smiling at her. Her fur was so warm and smooth; it was soothing just to pet it. And I knew she enjoyed it. "Besides, I have you to protect me, right?"

"Of course," she said, snuggling up against me. I stood there for a while, just absently watching the cars and people zip by on the street below, petting Gatomon until I heard her breathing become much more regular. She was asleep.

"Kari? Are you out here?" Sora's voice sounded from the doorway.

"Yes," I said, turning to look at her. She had a really odd expression on her face, almost as if someone had just told her that two plus two equaled three. "Is something wrong?"

"Izzy just got a really weird e-mail. I thought I'd let you know in case you wanted to see it," she explained.

"What do you mean a really weird email?" I asked curiously.

"Come see for yourself," Sora replied, returning inside. I followed promptly, Gatomon still fast asleep in my arms. When I got back to Izzy's room, everyone was crowded around his computer, making a funny shaped human wall around it. I almost laughed out loud at just that sight, at the same time wondering what could have possibly grabbed their attention like that. I set Gatomon down carefully on Izzy's bed and walked over. Tai finally noticed me.

"Kari, come here, you've got to see this," he said. He wasn't really excitedly or trouble, just really wierded out, like Sora had been.

Shrugging, I walked over to the screen. Tai helped me get near enough to it to read the message.

_Izzy,_

_I am most certain that you know not who I am. I, however, am very interested in you and your friends, most specifically your digimon. You see, I am in need of a great deal of help. I have an extremely dangerous and difficult mission to complete, and I would like your aid in doing so. Don't bother replying __to this message, I won't get it. Instead, if you would like to help me, __then__ please meet me at your summer camp this weekend and I will discuss the details further. I hope to see you all there. _

_Sincerely,_

_Gaustal_

I read the message over three times, still trying to figure out if I knew anyone by that name. "What does it mean, exactly?" I asked, looking back at Tai.

"I have no idea," Tai said, shaking his head. "But I think we should go find out. This is way too convenient of timing for this not to be linked somehow to that monster." As much as I didn't really want to, I knew that we had to go and check it out. There were just too many questions, and if this Gaustal guy had the answers, then we had to meet him.


	6. Chapter 5: When Worlds Collide

Chapter 5: When Worlds Collide

It was Saturday morning that we all dragged ourselves out of bed and zombied our way down to the bus stops that would eventually take us to camp. I didn't really remember the camp, very well, as I had not seen much of it. The summer I was supposed to go I got very sick and had to stay home from it. That of course caused a whole series of strange events to unfold. Gatomon was separated from the other digimon, Tai got sucked through a vortex back into the real world, and I didn't get my digivice until Myotismon had nearly demolished our entire city. It's funny how the little stuff can affect things like that. I guess it's important to pay attention to detail after all.

On this particular morning, the sky did look like it wanted to rain. It hadn't started yet, but it was the very dark and gloomy shade of blackish-blue which indicated that rain could not be long in coming. I didn't mind rain terribly much, and the dark colors the sky turned were beautiful in their own way. The only reason we were worried was because the camp was closed, meaning all the buildings were locked, meaning there would be little or no shelter from the rain. All of us were hoping it would hold off at least until we could get under the picnic shelter, and hopefully Gaustal would be smart enough to look for us there.

"So, how exactly are we supposed to find this guy?" Matt asked as we all slid toward the aisle into a funny-shaped circle.

"I guess he must just expect that he'll stand out enough, or that he'll be able to find us because of the digimon," Izzy replied. That was the other thing; the bus was almost half full with just our party, all of our digimon being with us this time. Joe was here as well, making our total party consist of eight humans and their respective digimon. Of course, Gatomon and Gomamon, who was Joe's digimon, didn't take up too much space. Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, Armadillomon, and Tentomon however took up almost as much as any human. Yolei's digimon, Hawkmon, was fairly small, I guess, but we still made a considerable party of fourteen. Needless to say, the bus fare hadn't been cheep.

"Well the camp is a pretty big place. I mean, it's not anything like the city, but it's certainly large enough to get lost in," Matt said.

"We can have Tentomon and Biyomon scout it out from above for us," Sora suggested. The discussion carried on, a little bit distant but much more relaxed. It was Wednesday night when Yolei and I had last seen that creature, and now that it hadn't appeared in almost three days I think we were beginning to worry less and less about it. Most importantly, it didn't seem to be causing any trouble in this world or the digital world. Everyone was smiling through the grogginess and in spite of the cloudy sky which threatened to at any moment tear open soak us all to the core while we wandered around the campsite.

The sky didn't disappoint. About ten minutes before we arrived at the camp, rain began to patter against the roof of the bus. A groan erupted from everyone except Gomamon simultaneously as the sound got louder and louder, indicating the rain was getting harder and harder.

"Well, I guess we're gonna get wet after all," Tai sighed, staring out the window as the street dampened and tiny rivers formed at its edges, making the road seem like a bridge built over the length of a river instead of the width.

"Great. I hate water," Gatomon moaned, slumping down in my lap. The cat's chronic distaste for being wet elicited a laugh from the group. It made me happy to see everyone laughing again. Whatever fears we had of finding this person were alleviated, if only for that brief moment.

The bus stop was only about a two minute walk away from the camp site. The distance would have been laughable if not for the rain. As it was, we all sprinted off of the bus, dashing for the tree-covered path which would hopefully provide some protection from the downpour. Normally it probably would have, but the rain was so hard that it gathered quickly on the leaves and dripped down on us in massive water blobs which were really no better than getting pelted with many of the smaller droplets. Without even looking at our surrounding, we all ran for the picnic enclosure. It was a fairly typical structure, made entirely of stained wood, the stain very uneven as the campers usually applied it as a 'project.' Underneath were the picnic tables, stacked upside-down on top of each other supposedly for winter storage. In reality none of us really knew why they bothered to stack them if they were only going to leave them out under the shelter. It was one of life's mysteries, that's for sure.

We were all breathing hard as we arrived under the shelter, complaining about how soaked all of our clothes were. Gatomon was actually fairly dry, having been clutched in my arms the entire time and shielded from most of the rain. She still managed to complain the loudest, however, which made everyone laugh again. Gomamon was the only one who wasn't laughing. He wasn't paying attention to any of us. The seal-like digimon with the short white fur and funny orange Mohawk had wandered out of the protection of the shelter and was staring at something in the middle of the campsite.

"Hey Joe, I've only been here once or twice, but I don't remember that thing being here," he said, turning around as his Mohawk finally collapsed in his face from taking in too much water. We all wandered over to the edge of the shelter and looked toward the center of the camp. Sitting on its side, still as a statue and yet somehow balanced on the centers of two of its massive outer rings was the largest gyroscope any of us had ever seen in our lives. It was positively massive. It had to be over one hundred feet high and that wasn't even the actual diameter of its rings, which were probably close to one hundred and fifty feet across. On the top and the bottom it had massive cylindrical structures, slightly tapered at the ends, which rivaled most public high schools in size. From the rear of the nearest cylinder, two massive rings, apparently immobile outer rings, stretched back around a huge void of air containing several slightly smaller rings which looked to be capable of movement, just like a normal gyroscope. The rings came together on the other side as well, making a perfect X as they entered into another cylinder which was equally massive as the first. The only notable sign that it might be something more than the last gasp of some completely insane artist was the fact that the nearer cylinder appeared to have a very large window set in the tapered front side.

We stared open-mouthed at the massive contraption. There was no way that something like that should have been in our campsite. It certainly couldn't have been built here in that little of time. Just the sheer size of the thing and the fact that anyone would even think to build such a massive gyroscope simply blew my mind. It was probably one of the last things I had expected to see that day.

As we watched from our position just beyond the boarder of the torrent, a door in the side of the nearby cylinder slid open. A figure appeared in it, and my first thought was aliens. But this figure appeared to be human, if rather oddly attired. He wore a dark blue chest plate that looked like some kind of strange armor, and had shoulders that rose up and outward to spiked points. His arms seemed to be covered in a bluish-gray chainmail of some kind. He had two chains strapped in an X across his chest. His pants were very dark blue and had many large tears in them. Through the tears I could see some other kind of material, lighter in color, but looking somewhat like the chainmail stuff that covered his arms. His black boots rose all the way to his knees, rising even higher on the side in an odd spade-shape that looked positively silly. At each hip, probably connected to those chains, was a sheathed scimitar, long and curved. His hair was purple and very straight, falling down around his ears and nearly over his eyes. His face seemed to glow with some kind of happy mischief, like a five-year old who had just watched his parents fall into a harmless little prank of his.

The man jumped down from the doorway. It was a fall of almost fifty feet and at first we all thought he had simply fallen, but somehow he managed to catch himself on his feet and one of his hands. He then proceeded to slip in the mud and nearly fall down as he was rising back to his feet. Steadying himself, he shook what he must have felt was the clumsiness he had just displayed off and began to walk toward us. Without a word we back up into the enclosure to let him get under it and out of the rain. We ended up forming a kind of half-circle around him as he stepped out of the downpour and into the relative protection provided by the shelter. He was now soaked from head to foot, but his face seemed to say that he didn't even notice it. He was just happy to be here.

"I'm glad you all could make it. As I'm sure you've estimated by now, I am Gaustal. I am the one who requested your presence here today. I'm glad you all could make it in spite of the weather," the man introduced himself.

"Uh, Mr. Gaustal," Matt asked. "What the hell is that thing?" Matt pointed a finger up to the massive gyroscope which had invaded the center of the camp.

"That, my friends, is the Gyros. It is a machine with truly incredible capabilities. It is able to fly by spinning the gyroscope rings and harnessing the circular energy of that motion. But that's a tale for another time," Gaustal replied. His mannerisms were rather grand. He spoke as if he were constantly building up to some great revelation and yet he never quite got to whatever it was that he was building up his energy for. If he hadn't just jumped out of the largest children's toy we had ever seen. We probably would have thought he was crazy. Some of us probably did anyways.

"Right," Matt said, his expression clearly indicating his opinion was the latter. "So you said you had some kind of request for us?"

"Ah yes, of course I do. You see, everyone, my mission is quite a grand one. Thus far it has taken me to many faraway places and pushed me to my limits. The riddles of ancient prophecy challenge me and my crew daily, and the fiends who would keep us from our goals challenge me even more. This is why I now seek your aid. You are all strong-willed individuals. Your digimon friends here possess incredible power. You have in your ranks many talented individuals who I believe could help us to achieve our greatest of goals. It is for this reason that I have asked you all to come here, that I have requested your aid in this heroic endeavor."

"So what is it already?" Tai asked, growing impatient with Gaustal's grandstanding. I felt Yolei's hand on my shoulder just then. I turned to look at her, and she was looking back at me with a terribly frantic look. She couldn't seem to say anything at all. She just pointed up toward the giant gyroscope. Time seemed to slow to a crawl all around me as I looked up. Standing in the door of the massive machine, staring down at our little group, was the creature. Even from here I could still see his eyes; that memory was burned into my mind forever. He stood in the doorway, unmoving, cold, threatening, almost daring me to make my next move. I knew what that move was, too. I started to turn, almost in slow motion. I was going to do it. I wanted to run away from that thing. I probably would have even if it hadn't told me to. Time almost stood still as I started around.

Gaustal must have noticed Yolei pointing as well, because he had turned to the ship. Shortly afterward, everyone had. Tai's eyes were filling with both fear and rage. Those who hadn't seen it before were filled with wonder as well as the first two emotions. Gaustal, however, was filled with something entirely different. Laughter.

"Caleb! I didn't think you were here! Come on down and introduce yourself!" Gaustal called out, as if this thing, whose name was apparently Caleb, had been some kind of lifelong friend. I froze. My mind said I should have kept going, kept turning and starting to run, but for some reason I couldn't. Gaustal was obviously insane, but something about the fact that he had greeted that monster as a friend made me want to know why. So I stopped. I stopped and looked back up at the creature, at Caleb. Its eyes were still watching me, still waiting, and still hoping. Hoping for what?


	7. Chapter 6: Mission

Chapter 6: Mission

It was a staring contest in which there was destined to be no winner. Me against that monster, and even should I blink, I wouldn't actually even lose. I was frozen there, wanting to run away and yet somehow more wanting to know what it is exactly that I was running from. A classic case of curiosity killing the cat, and even with that very thought racing through my mind, I had to stay. I just had to.

He moved first, falling down out of the doorway much like Gaustal had, but landing solidly on two feet standing straight up. He started to walk towards us. His eyes never left mine. There was definitely anger in them, some form of frustration that I wouldn't obey his threat, and yet there was also something else. I wouldn't quite call it desperation, but there was definitely something in the flickering of his eyes that was scared of what would happen if I didn't leave. Well, maybe not scared, but certainly worried about the possibility. For me it was too late already. Now that I had let him come this far, there was no way I would be able to run away. He was walking toward me, all the answers about who and what he was. Now he was almost here. He stopped just beyond the barrier of the rain, still not taking his eyes off me.

"Everyone," Gaustal said, as if he was a circus ringmaster introducing the show's star, "This is my god friend, Caleb. He helped me to build the Gyros and has provided me with much information as my journey has progressed. He's been most helpful to me . . ."

"Shut up," Caleb said, without even looking at Gaustal. The man was silenced immediately, though he had the incredulous look of someone who is struck for no readily apparent reason. Caleb couldn't have cared less. His gaze never left me, his multicolored eyes scanning me, analyzing me, breaking me down into information.

"Caleb, can I ask why you're staring at . . ." Gaustal started. He was interrupted well before he could finish.

"I need to talk to you. Right now," Caleb said, finally turning away from me and facing Gaustal.

"I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to wait. I'm already engaged in a conversation. I'll meet you on the bridge when we're done here," Gaustal said, his tone indicating his own curiosity as to why Caleb was acting this way. Caleb simply stared at him, clearly angry but not seeming to want to do anything. Finally, he broke the long silence.

"You're a fucking moron, you know that?" the creature said. He turned away from us and walked back to the ship, through the rain. With hardly any effort at all, he leaped up fifty feet into the doorway and disappeared into the giant gyroscope.

"Don't mind Caleb, everyone. He can act a bit odd at times. Of course, were I in his situation I would probably act a bit odd myself," Gaustal said casually.

"How exactly do you know him?" Tai asked, his face a confused mixture of anger and pleasant surprise.

"Caleb? I've known him for years. As I said, he designed the Gyros for me, and also helped me build it. In fact, he's helped me more times than I can remember, providing me with information and stuff concerning my mission. He's a tough nut to crack. Some, himself included, would say he's the toughest. I would dispute that claim, either. Why, have you met him before?" Gaustal asked.

"Yeah we've met him. He tried to kill Kari!" Tai shouted, his anger now rising to the surface in the face of Gaustal's rather calm demeanor. Gaustal just looked at me curiously. I don't know how exactly he knew who I was so quickly. Maybe h e guessed it from the fact that Caleb had stared at me for so long. We also didn't know how he'd gotten Izzy's email address, so I suppose it wasn't that odd that he'd know some other information on us.

"Well, if you're not dead then he must not have really wanted to kill you that badly. If he did, you wouldn't be standing there right now," Gaustal said matter-of-factly. His look and tone suggested that this was the most obvious truth in the world.

"He would have killed her if this weird purple thing hadn't stopped him," Tai explained.

"A weird purple thing, eh?" Gaustal asked, suddenly very interested. "Well now that is interesting. It looks like those two are playing their little games again."

"So what was that purple thing?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll meet her soon enough. Rest assured, if it was her that saved you then you really do have nothing to worry about. Caleb won't bother you anymore. At least I don't expect him to. Now, enough of the chit chat. I would like to explain my mission to you all. I am on a schedule, after all," Gaustal said, trying to resume his grand tone.

"I still don't think we know enough about this Caleb guy yet," Matt said as he crossed his arms, the annoyance clearly evident in his voice.

"Look, I don't know overly much about Caleb and his motives for doing the silly things he does. In fact, nobody does except him. If you really want to know, you'll have to ask him yourself, though he more than likely won't tell you. All I can say is that he's almost certainly not a danger to any of you. I'm rather surprised that he'd bother with you all in the first place. He rarely concerns himself with the affairs of my mission any more, let alone those of the people I seek to recruit," Gaustal was clearly starting to tire of the conversation. Caleb and his attack on me didn't seem to interest him very much if at all. To him, it was just another one of the strange creature's antics. "If you're really that worried, I do have to go talk to him now when I'm done speaking with you. I'll ask him about it and see what I can find out. How's that sound?"

We all sort of looked at each other. I really did think Gaustal was telling the truth. He didn't understand Caleb very well, but he knew enough to think that Caleb wasn't going ot hurt us. I also recalled that Caleb never told me what would happen should I fail to run. He had only trusted that I do it. It wasn't a very logical agreement on his part.

"Fine, tell us more about your mission," Tai said, looking slightly annoyed that Gaustal didn't have all the answers.

"Very well. This tale is a tale that begins in ages long past," he began in his grandiose tone, "A tail of terrible power and many difficult struggles. You see, my friends, we are all trapped in an endless circuit of events. You see, when the universe was born, three great beings were born with it. These three have unparalleled power over the universe. One of them has apparently decided that the universe doesn't deserve to advance on its course. Every time the universe gets to a certain year, this being wipes it all out." Gaustal paused, apparently trying for dramatic effect of some kind. When he saw that we weren't buying into his act he gave a small sigh before continuing in a much more level tone. "Every time this being wipes out the universe, it is reduced back to a singularity. It then explodes again and the universe starts anew."

"And this is a terrible thing why?" Matt asked. Gasutal shook his head, as if to highlight our ignorance as to such matters.

"Every time the universe starts over, it happens exactly as it did before," Gaustal said. All of our eyebrows went up. That was certainly an odd take on things. "In fact, the universe has re-occurred like this more than a million times already."

"So we've all already exist a million times?" Tai asked, clearly not believing him. Izzy asked a more serious question. Apparently he saw at least some merit in the theory, which surprised me.

"If the universe always happens in exactly the same way, then why bother even trying to change it? You already know that you'll fail."

"That's the interesting part," Gaustal said. "It never occurs exactly the same. It will be very close every time, but something will always happen slightly differently. My mission is to keep attempting to find and stop this being, as many times as it takes, until finally I succeed and the universe can continue on the path it was meant to take, forward in time endlessly."

"Is that it?" Tai asked, sounding rather board. I couldn't blame him for not believing Gaustal. I didn't myself. Izzy was the one who actually bought it.

"So, what you're saying is that everything we've done, all the decisions we've made and people we've met, and even this conversation right now, has already happened a million times?" Izzy asked.

"Yes and no," Gaustal began. "Yes, you all have existed in the past, but things have not always worked out quite like this. Predetermination is not a reality. The choices you make can still affect your lives in very drastic ways, as can the choices others make. In some of the past universe, some or all of you didn't even exist. Due to some choices of someone else, you simply weren't born. After having analyzed the past universes, I can say that your little posse almost always did appear in tack, though you didn't always survive. But that's neither here nor there. You survived this time, and now I'd like you to help me ensure that such an outcome is the permanent result of your choices."

"You did say Caleb won't bother us again, right?' Tai asked.

"Yes, I am quite certain of it," Gaustal said, exasperated.

"In that case, I really don't care about your crackpot theories. I'd like to go home and get dried off before we all get pneumonia," Tai said. Most of the group agreed with him. Luckily Izzy's curiosity managed to get the better of him.

"If it's all well and good, I'd like to hear more," he said, facing Tai. "You can all go home and dry off, and I'll report back to you later if I still think this theory might be legit."

"Oh, it's quite legit," Gaustal said. "I can prove it, with some help from my think tank. It takes a truly gifted mind to understand it all, though."

"Well if that's the case, Izzy's your man," Matt said.

"It's settled then," izzy stated. "I'll stay here and try to discern whatever information they have on the actual proof of this theory. I'll report back anything that I find through email."

"Izzy, do you actually believe all this stuff?" Tai asked, giving him a strange look.

"I'm not going to count it out until I see how exactly they've proven it. Even if it's not a completely perfect theory, it may contain some elements that would be useful to analyze anyways. For one thing, the presence of that giant gyroscope is quite impressive. I believe that such a contraption is reason enough to at least take a look at what they have."

"Well, if you say so, Izzy," Tai said. He clearly didn't like this idea, but when Izzy set his mind to something, especially in academic pursuits, there was very little that we could do to stop him short of dragging him away.

"I'll report anything I figure out to you immediately," Izzy said.

I'm not quite sure why, but I found myself believing Gaustal as well. Of course, I would never be able to understand all the physics and whatnot that Izzy was going to try to decode, but something in the back of my head wanted to believe that Gaustal was telling the truth. I think there was something else there as well, though. I still wasn't satisfied with the idea that the creature, Caleb, simply wouldn't attack us again. I still wanted to find out why he had in the first place. That alone probably convinced me that Gaustal was telling the truth. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to talk to him. I needed to. I needed to find out why he had targeted me, and why he had then subsequently let me off the hook.


	8. Chapter 7: A Shot in the Dark

Chapter 7: A Shot in the Dark

"Hey Tai," I said, plopping down on the couch next to him. He had been watching the news since we had gotten back, but I could tell he wasn't really watching. He only had it on. It was fairly obvious because this was the third cycle of the same news program, and he still wasn't changing the channel.

"What's up?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the TV. His mind was elsewhere, and I couldn't blame him. Mine was as well.

"I was thinking, what would you do if Izzy came back and told us that this Gaustal guy is for real?" My question finally made him turn his head. I could tell from his expression that this was the question he had been asking himself all day. He knew it didn't add up, just like I did. Gaustal wasn't crazy. The fact that he knew this mysterious person named Caleb was proof enough of that.

"I don't know, Kari," he replied, looking down now. I'm not even sure myself what exactly this 'mission' entails. If it's dangerous or something," he stopped. Tai had become a lot more responsible in recent years. Sometimes he seemed almost too protective. Then again, dealing with so much of the unknown, it was probably best to be cautious. I decided to tell him my idea.

"I think I want to go and meet Caleb," I said simply.

"Kari are you insane? That thing tried to kill you!" Tai protested.

"I know that, but I want to know why," I explained. "It doesn't make any sense to me. He let me off once, and then when I didn't run away, he didn't do anything. It doesn't make any sense."

"As long as he gets out of here, I really don't care what his reasons were or are. I'll just be glad to be rid of him," Tai replied. I sighed heavily.

"Maybe Izzy sent us an e-mail by now. I'm going to go check," I said, getting up.

"Good idea," Tai said, returning his attention to the television and by extension his own thoughts. I decided to let him be for now.

Gatomon was feigning sleep on my bed in my room. Her breathing wasn't quite regular enough for her to be asleep. I sat down next to her and scratched her ears gently, eliciting a soft purr of contentment.

"Kari, are you scared?" Gatomon asked, stretching her neck against my hand.

"I guess I am a little bit," I replied, picking her up and setting her down in my lap.

"Don't worry Kari. I'll protect you," Gatomon purred.

"I know you will. I'll protect you too, okay?" I smiled.

"Okay," Gatomon purred in response.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

_Tai,_

_I'm sending this same email to Matt, Sora, and Joe as well. If you can, forward it to Cody and Yolei as well. I've not yet finished observing all of the analysis that this ship has to offer. However, I have confirmed quite a large amount of their material. It seems that the universe might actually be stuck on a circular path. __I'm going to continue my research here and see what else I can find out. I'd like to meet you as soon as possible to talk about this. Reply as soon as you can to tell me when you'll be coming up. I'm going to be at the camp all night trying to figure out the rest of this stuff, so whenever you can show up tomorrow morning would be fine._

_Thanks,_

_Izzy_

It was about nine at night when Izzy had sent us that email. Twelve hours later, we were all heading back out to the campsite. The residue of the previous day's rain still manifested itself in the form of many puddles spotting the road and the dirt path up to the camp. The sun was burning rather brightly this morning, which meant that the puddles would likely be gone by the afternoon. It was quite a stark contrast to the previous day. The giant gyroscope gleamed brightly in the early morning sunlight. Just outside of it, now in the middle of the camp because the shelter was no longer needed, was a very tired looking Izzy. His laptop was tucked under his arm and his face had a happy smile on it. There was someone standing next to him. From a distance, the person looked like a heavily robed very old woman. As we approached them, however it became clear that this person was not quite human. She wore a long purple robe which covered her entire body, arms, and feet. Her skin was wrinkled and appeared rough, somewhat like an old woman's. Her hands were neatly groomed, and a rather long nose protruded from her face. Her slight smile made her appear almost motherly. She certainly was not what I would have expected from someone with such deep green skin. Her smile showed the slightest bit of many straight, white, very sharp teeth.

"Good morning everyone," Izzy said, his voice cheerful in spite of his long night. "Firs t of all let me introduce you to Sablin. She's one of Gaustal's friends, and she quite well versed in quantum mechanics. I've been up all night reviewing her research, and I must say I'm quite impressed."

"You're too kind, Izzy," Sablin said, the fact that all of her teeth were similarly sharp visible as her mouth opened. "It's nice to meet you all."

"Uh, nice to meet you too," Sora replied after a few seconds. The rest of us just nodded.

"If you don't mind me asking," Matt started, leaning forward a little, "well, what exactly are you?"

"I am a hakleman," Sablin replied. "A very small species of goblin. Trust me; you'll me quite a few strange people upon this ship."

"She's right," Izzy threw in. "In fact I actually met two more people who looked kind of like Caleb. They were much friendlier than he was, though."

"That's great," Tai said rather awkwardly. "Now Izzy, you called us here saying that Gaustal was actually telling the truth, right?"

"Unfortunately, I believe he is," Izzy began. "Look at this for a second." Izzy plopped down on the ground and pulled his laptop open. We all gathered around him to see what exactly it was that Izzy thought was so dangerous. On screen, a large helix structure was displayed within a three-dimensional grid.

"What is it, Izzy?" Matt asked as we watched the helix rotate on the screen.

"This helix represents the flow of time. You see, I was initially skeptical of the circle idea because that would require that time repeat perfectly. But the actual flow is in a helix. It looks just like a fully compressed spring, with each layer making an imperfect mimicry of the one before it. Time travels around the helix once, gets reset, and travels around again with most of history happening just as it did before. However, there are points of divergence. From what I can tell, if people made the same choices every time, the universe would actually just repeat itself ad infinitum, and as it is we often do make most of the same choices, because most of our lives are governed my autonomic reactions. However, there are occasionally choices that we must consciously make, and when people select one over the other they may be diverging from a selection they made in a previous manifestation of the universe."

"So, what does that all mean?" I asked. Izzy turned to look at me.

"It simply means that time will never pass beyond a certain point. It will happen differently each time, though, depending on what choices we make," Izzy explained again.

"Okay. Now here are the two biggest questions," Tai started. "Is this really that big of a problem, and what can we do about it?"

"The first one is easy," Izzy said. "This is definitely a big problem. As for what we can do, I'm not entirely sure. We are certain that there is actually some kind of extremely powerful being who is actually causing this to happen. I suppose that Gaustal wants our help to take it out once they find it."

"We would also like some extra manpower to help us locate the thing," Sablin threw in. "I've almost formulated an interesting method of locating it. I just need to do a little bit more research. If all goes well, it may take us less than two months to finish the mission. Most of the work has already been done."

"I say we do it," I spat out suddenly. I kind of surprised myself when I said it. I wasn't really sure at the time what made me say it. In retrospect, perhaps it was just one of those choices that Izzy was talking about. After all, I didn't even know where exactly we were going yet. All I really knew is that I wanted to help them. If I have the choice to help someone who asked for help, I think I should do whatever I can to help them.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"You all packed up, Kari?" Tai said as I walked into his room.

"Yeah, I finished a few minutes ago," I replied.

"Yolei called. She said that she can't come either," Tai said, still packing his stuff into a suitcase.

"Why not?" I asked "Same as Cody and Joe?"

"Yeah. Their parents won't let them miss that much school. Matt called to say that he is going to be able to go, and I get the impression that Izzy would go regardless of permission so that he'd have a chance to study all that quantum whatever." Tai didn't seem very excited. His voice was tired and unemotional. He was packing mechanically, not really looking at anything. This was typical of him when he was worried.

"Tai, do you want to go?" I asked him. He stopped packing and looked up at me.

"Of course I want to go. I'm just worried about everyone," he replied.

"You don't need to worry about me, Tai. I've got Gatomon to protect me," I said, trying to sound happy so that he'd cheer up as well. A small smile crossed his face. At least it was some improvement.

"I know. Still, I don't like the way things look right now. You've got to be careful out there," he told me. I sighed.

"I know Tai. You be careful too, then," I said, smiling again.

"Got it," he said with a nod. He resumed packing while I returned to my room. Gatomon was already asleep, and I couldn't blame her. I was usually asleep by eleven as well. I have to admit I was nervous, but having her there seemed to calm me down. That's what friends are for, I guess. I climbed into bed and pulled her up to the pillow as gently as possible so that she wouldn't wake up. I petted he lightly as she slept, watching her steady, slight breathing as I drifted into sleep myself. Her fur was always so soft, so warm, so comforting, and I fell asleep reflecting on that.

I remember seeing the northern lights once, when I was younger. The aurora borealis, I think they're called. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. Bands of multicolored light descending from the sky, illuminating the nights with a brilliant array of dancing strands of light. It was as if the sky were putting on a dance for the world to see. The majesty and brilliance of it was simply staggering, the soft, gently way the colors floated in the distance made it seem as though heaven itself were opening up high above us. I think that the aurora is part of my dream. I want the whole world to see the aurora. I think that it would help. I think that if people would look at the beauty and the mystery of the world around them, it might help to comfort them when they're troubled, or give them strength and hope when they need it most. I think that my friends are, in some ways, like an aurora to me. They give me the strength and the hope I need to keep trying to make the world better.

_author's note: I know somebody is reading this, I can see that on the hits page. I'd really like it if you guys would take some time to review what I've written. I only have one comment on this story so far. Reviews really are appreciated, and they really do help me to write more and write better. _


	9. Chapter 8: Child's Play

Chapter 8: Child's Play

It seemed like we had been spending a lot of time on the bus lately. It wasn't a short ride over to the camp, and we had made it several times in the past few days. Of course, it was less crowded this time, as there were only five of us. Ten if you wanted to count the digimon. Of course my brother Tai and Agumon were there, and Gatomon was sitting on my lap. Tentomon was watching Izzy peck away at his laptop. Apparently he still had a lot to figure out about the research going on within the ship. Matt and Gabumon were just staring at the ceiling, possibly bored or possibly worried or possibly a little of both. Sora and Biyomon were watching the world zip by outside the windows.

"Tai, did we ever figure out where exactly we're going?" Sora asked, turning back into the bus.

"I have no idea," Tai replied with a shrug. "I guess we'll know when we get there."

"Why didn't you guys just ask?" Izzy said. "I think it ought to be fairly obvious by now anyways. Just think about the Gyros."

"What about it?" Tai asked.

"Don't you think it looks like a spacecraft?"

I'm not sure why that hadn't dawned on us before. Caleb not being a digimon, Sablin being some kind of goblin, and for that matter the very appearance of the ship itself, all of them pointed toward the obvious conclusion that Izzy had just revealed to us. Apparently at least Matt had figured it, because he chuckled.

"You actually didn't know we were going into space?" he asked.

"So they're all aliens? Is Gaustal an alien too?" Tai asked.

"If by alien you mean someone from another planet, then yes," Izzy said. "However, Gaustal is human. Apparently humans do exist elsewhere in the universe, though they are far and away not the only intelligent life."

"And they told you all this two nights ago?" Tai turned to Izzy again.

"I'm sure you'll understand completely once we're on the ship," Izzy responded, closing his laptop. "Speaking of which, I think we've arrived."

Izzy was stating the obvious. The bus had stopped and was waiting for us to depart. By now the bus driver knew where we were getting off, and he was giving us an impatient look because we hadn't been ready to get off. We walked briskly down the finally dry path into the campsite, where the behemoth ship, the Gyros, waited for us. From far away, we could see Sablin waiting for us below the door.

"It's an amazing craft," Izzy said as we walked over. "They showed me a simulation of its function. It spins the gyroscope rings very quickly to create circular energy. The trick with a gyroscope is that it stays perfectly in balance. So, in order to make it move, they have breaks on the hinges which slow the rings slightly, throwing the gyroscope off. That allows the ship to be propelled in any direction. I can't imagine how complicated the control program for that must be. I'd love to get a look at it some time."

"We get it Izzy, the thing is complicated," Matt said.

"It sounds like it would take a lot of work to put together," I said.

"From what I hear, it was," Izzy told me. At last we arrived at the ship's door, or rather at the spot fifty feet below it where Sablin waited to greet us.

"Nice to see you all could make it. I've a ladder ready for you to reach the door," she said, pulling a string next to her which caused a rope ladder to fall down from the door and dangle loosely beside her.

"All that technology and you're using a rope ladder?" Sora asked.

"We don't often land in such flat places. It's hard to maintain the Gyros' balance. This time we had to because there were few spots so well hidden, and we don't want to cause a stir," Sablin explained. "Come now, everybody climb on up."

The interior of the ship was nothing special. The floor was all carpet and dark red, which I found slightly odd. The walls were a very blank looking white, with nothing at all hung on them. There were sliding glass doors at various intervals, including one right in front of us as we arrived at the top of the ladder. The ceiling was no better, being completely white and flat. Overall it didn't look like a space ship. Until Sablin made it up, we were all stuck in a small cube which was big enough for about fifteen people. Sablin opened the glass sliding door to reveal a long hallway with the exact same boring décor. We passed by a few doors before Sablin turned to her left and opened yet another door.

This was apparently the control room. Again, it was much less exciting than I had expected. It was just a simple Cube, like every other room, though the ceiling in here was much higher. There was a large window at the front, and below that was a row of computers embedded in a dashboard. The rest of the room was fairly empty, save for a few tables and chairs. There were three people in the room when we entered. One I had never seen before. He wore very plain dark blue cloths, a long blue cape, and a silver ring around his head of black spiky hair. The only other noticeable feature was an ornately carved rapier sheathed at his hip. He appeared to be watching the other two disinterestedly, but his gaze didn't leave them upon our entering. The other two figures, arguing vehemently in the far right corner, were Gaustal and Caleb.

"This isn't a game anymore, Gaustal. Remember, you're asking people for their lives here," Caleb said, his voice very dark and threatening.

"I hardly think you're one to talk about people's lives," Gaustal shot back, an air of superiority about him.

"I am one to talk. You're the one who's got no idea what he's dealing with," Caleb said.

"Maybe if you'd actually tell me you could get the point across," Gaustal said.

"That won't work either. My failsafe is you not knowing anything. It's certainly worked before," Caleb told him.

"When did you become so worried about them anyways?" Gaustal asked, crossing his arms.

Gatomon jumped up onto my shoulder and whispered in my ear. "Jeez, they fight like an old married couple." In spite of myself, I laughed.

Caleb's head swiveled toward us temporarily, silencing my laughter. His eyes were about as icy as I'd ever seen them. He said nothing, though, and simply turned back to Gaustal.

"Bringing strong people onto this ship is one thing. Those five are incapable of self-defense. You've seen just like everyone else here that nobody can sit on the sidelines all the time. They're as good as dead," Caleb told him.

"I bring up a previous point," Gaustal said, staring down at Caleb as if the latter had two heads.

"I did that . . . no, you know what? I'm done. You've got about as much common sense as a bag of nails. Think about how often I've been right in the past and consider that I may still be right now." Caleb turned away then, toward us. This time, however, he didn't bother looking at us. He walked straight past us and out of the room. His gait didn't indicate any kind of anger or discomfort like most people would.

"My my, Caleb does confuse me so," Gaustal said, turning toward us. As if he suddenly remembered something, he spun around to face the other person. "I'm sorry, Apoc, but you'll have to wait a moment. I'd like to welcome them aboard."

"No problem. I got nowhere I gotta be," The man who was apparently Apoc commented.

"Excellent," Gaustal said, returning his attention to us. "I'm glad to see you've all made it here. I've got some very exciting news for you all. I'll tell you about that in a moment, though. First, let me give you these." He picked up a small cardboard box that was sitting on the elongated dashboard in the front of the room. He offered the box to us. Inside were about a hundred very tiny devices. "So far, everyone you've met knows how to speak Japanese, and has done so in your presence for simplicity's sake." I suddenly realized that Apoc had spoken in English, not Japanese. It was a weird sensation. Since Will had been teaching me English I had always had to translate it inside my head. Will said I was a fast learner, but the first time that I simply heard English and understood it was still surprising. Of course, the sensation wouldn't last long after Gaustal gave us the devices. "These devices are universal translation modules. They are yet another toy that Caleb created for us. Over two hundred thousand languages are programmed into them, and they're so fast that you'll hear whoever is speaking within a hundredth of a second of when they actually speak, and you'll hear them in your own language. As unhelpful as Caleb's been of late, I can't help but be thankful to him for everything he's done. Now, Sablin will show you to your rooms. There should be a map of the ship's layout on the walls of your room. Feel free to stop by the cafeteria and make yourselves some food whenever you like. If you want to watch us lift off, however, you should hang around for a bit. We'll be leaving very shortly."

"Let's stick around then," matt said. "I want to see this thing actually take off."

"Very well then. Sablin, start up the lift sequence while I handle Apoc," Gaustal said. Sablin nodded and proceeded to sit down at one of the computers, slightly left of center. Gaustal turned to Apoc. "Well, what did you want to ask me?"

"It's concerning Almeadon. I was thinking that we might be able to get by with just two or three pieces. After all, a map is still navigable as long as most of the route and the destination are present," the man named Apoc asked.

"A logical assumption, but it is not so, my dear Apocalypsering," Gaustal replied. "If Almeadon is incomplete, then the location will not actually appear on the map. We must find every piece."

"Right then. Just a thought. Catch ya later," Apoc said. Rather suddenly, he turned a very bright purple and then vanished into thin air.

"That's the thing I forgot to tell you about!" Gaustal said as if he'd made a very minor error on a math problem. "Almeadon. It's a map which will reveal the location of our Endbringer. Once we find it, we kill it and the universe should return to linear time. It's divided into nine pieces, and we have none of them as of yet. We just discovered this recently, after all. I estimate it taking no more than a month to gather the pieces, though."

Sablin turned around form her seat at the control panel. "Dimension Distortion is online. We're lifting off in about two minutes," she warned us.

"Right then. Come now everyone, up to the window to watch the planet fall out from under your feet," Gaustal instructed, leading the way.

"Um, shouldn't we put on a seatbelt or something?" Sora asked, looking around at the tables and chairs that clearly were not fastened to the floor.

"My dear, this is the best ship there is and could ever be. Its DD system will nullify any G-Force on its interior, making sure we feel almost no pull or push no matter how quickly it accelerates." Just then, the floor jerked slightly, causing us all to suddenly lose faith in Gaustal's words, though it would be rather illogical to do so seeing as he'd done this many times. "Fear not. That's just the rings starting up. The ship's balance changes ever so slightly when they first begin to move."

We could hear a very faint whirring of wind outside as Sablin played with the many controls, apparently manipulating the rings. Rather suddenly, the ground outside began to descend. It dropped slowly at first, but as the ship rose it began to fade away faster and faster. It wasn't much different from being on an airplane, other than the fact that Gaustal was right when he told us we would feel almost none of the forces. We passed through the clouds, the campsite now only a tiny little polygon in the miniature forest below us. Soon even the clouds seemed to be part of some kind of childhood art project, like the ones you make in shoeboxes by gluing paper everywhere. The magnitude of the lift hardly even seemed to hit us until we saw darkness creep around the edges of our world. The window was now filled with a black void, dotted in the center by the tiny mass that we had called earth. We were all stunned into silence, so much so that the fact the ship had been tipping forward ever so slightly, ensuring that the window always gave us a good view of the planet below. We were basically standing on a wall, our feet perpendicular to the planet's surface below us.

"Well, my newest companions, what do you think?" Gaustal asked us as we stared in awe at our own world. I suppose he wasn't really expecting an answer. Our stunned silence was all the reply necessary. Around the edges of the planet, stars were appearing, glimmering in the distance, each one a waypoint to guide our wandering vision around our home.


	10. Chapter 9: RunOff

Chapter 9: Run-Off

I don't know what time it was when I finally reached my room. The ship had a very large dormitory which greatly resembled a hotel built inside of the ship. The hallways and room were no different, though. It was all red carpet, blank white walls, and white ceiling. Even the keys were just normal keys. The fact that I couldn't feel the ship's movement made it seem like I wasn't in space at all. If it weren't for the small window I probably would have forgotten that we had ever left earth.

The size of the dormitory stunned me. Izzy asked as we walked through it if all the rooms were used. Sablin explained that less than a quarter of them were. In fact, most of the room did not have windows, being on the interior of the ship, but they had rather few people and so everyone had a room with a window. Our rooms were all right next to each other, one floor up from the main floor. Apparently the dormitory made up most of the front half of the ship; a design idea of Gaustal's when he thought he'd be recruiting many more people than he actually did.

I suppose it must have been around three in the afternoon. There were no clocks anywhere on the ship, or at least I hadn't seen any. It was that quest that led me into what was labeled as a storage room. I opened the door, hoping that perhaps there was some kind of clock stashed away there. Sablin said we were free to explore the ship until Gaustal called us, and that we could usually find someone who could help us in the bridge if we needed anything. I didn't feel like bothering anyone with my rather silly quest for a clock. The storage room, however, was not at all what I had expected.

The lights were very dim, but it surprised me because they were already on. The room was about the width and length of a tennis court. Unlike the rest of the ship, the floor was wood. The walls were painted in some kind of deep burgundy color which serves to amplify the dimness of the lights. There were a handful of bar tables and chairs placed intermittently around the room, and to the right there was a bar which appeared to be fully functional, complete with glasses and various bottles stocked behind it. I walked in before my eyes completely adjusted and before I could clearly see the other people in the room. Four rather odd looking figures were seated around one of the tables, over which hung a lamp which was one of only two sources of light in the room. The other was a similar lamp which dangled above the bar, illuminating a fifth figure who was laying on said bar with his hands behind his back and his legs crossed. There was one more figure, leaning against the wall on the far side of the table. It was Caleb.

All six of them looked at me as I entered, some with confusion, some with surprise, and Caleb with complete passiveness. I tried to shrink back into the door, hoping they would just ignore me.

"Hey!" the figure on the bar called. He looked a lot like Caleb. They had the same body structure at least. The primary difference was the fact that this one's fur was jet black, and his face was actually friendly. Despite this, I still felt uncomfortable at walking in.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," I said sheepishly, starting to pull the door closed. The figure on the bar would have none of it.

"Where ya going? Come on, stay a while," he said, jumping down and running over to the door. I had no choice really but to oblige. "I'm Shadow," he said, extending his paw. Tentatively, I reached my hand forward and shook with him. "See, there ya go. Handshake, up and down, be friendly." Shadow was apparently mocking my hesitation, which really only made me more uncomfortable. I'm sure he didn't mean to though, simply because his face contained an odd mix of curiosity and excitement. Dropping my hand and grabbing my wrist he pulled me into the room and closed the door.

"Shadow what the fuck are you doing?" one of the figures at the table asked. This figure was easily the largest in the room. He must have been nearly seven feet tall when standing. He appeared to be almost human. He was some kind of dragon-human hybrid. It was obvious he walked upright. His body was human except for his dragon-like head, black scaly skin, clawed hands, and a very long spindly tail which was twitching impatiently.

"Don't mind Garret, he's just anti-social," Shadow grinned at me.

"You'd better mind me, Shadow," Garret threatened, his head tilting down and his eyes narrowing.

"But it's so much more convenient not to," another of the figures at the table said. This one also resembled Caleb, but instead his fur was pure white. He also had two notable accessories which, in the dim light, I could not immediately tell if they were real or not. One was a golden halo which floated above his head, and the other was a set of white feathered wings which fluttered behind his back. Overall they gave him the appearance of an angel.

"Got that right," Shadow grinned. "Anyways, introductions. The big guy's Garret. The white fluffy one is Blitz. He's my dad. Next we've got the amazing Larg!" Shadow indicated the third figure from the left seated at the table. He was by far the oddest one in the room. Two not quite spherical blue blobs, not connected to each other, seemed to make up his body. One was resting upon the chair while the other hovered above it. At either side of the upper blob a thick white hand with three very thick fingers and a thumb drifted, also not connected visibly to any other part of his body. His feet must have been the same, but they were incased in red tennis shoes, giving the appearance that a pair of tennis shoes was simply laying on the ground under his chair. His head seemed to be the only thing with connections to anything, though not to his body. Several blobs formed an elongated spherical head, a nose, and two long yellow strands of what must have been hair but could just as easily have been called rectangular sails. His mouth and eyes seemed fairly normal, and were the only things about him that did.

"And next we have Mowza," Shadow continued. The final resident of the table was the first creature that actually resembled any kind of alien I had ever thought of. He was humanoid, but was far too skinny to be human. His head appeared to be a green crescent moon which someone had cut in half along the horizontal and stuck a pillar with a face into. Other than that, only his wrinkly green skin separated him from being human, along with the abnormal lankiness of his entire body.

"And from what I hear you've already met Caleb," Shadow said happily. I just nodded, hoping he'd let me leave some time soon. The next words out of his mouth surprised me greatly, though, making me forget entirely about leaving. "Great. He's my son." I suppose I had never thought about that. Of course, I hadn't had any reason to, really, but I had never considered what kind of family, if any, Caleb might have. It seemed like a novel idea, that he'd have a family. "Now, how'd you like to get into the game?"

"No, no, and no," Garret said before I had a chance to respond. The game was apparently a card game which they were playing on the table. I couldn't tell if they were betting with chips or some kind of strange money, but I was sure I didn't have any of whatever it was.

"Party pooper. Let her play," Blitz said, leaning back in his chair.

"I bet she doesn't even know how," Larg threw in, the first words he had said all night. His voice was rather squeaky.

"I don't," I finally managed to squeeze into the argument. "And I wouldn't want to intru . . ."

"That's fine, you can watch a few hands and learn," Shadow interrupted, pulling me up closer to the table.

"Shadow, just give it up already," Larg said. "I don't think she wants to play anyways."

Shadow finally looked at me, asking with his eyes if I actually wanted to leave.

"I think I'd rather just get going," I said. "I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think this game is for me."

"Alright then," Shadow said, seeming not to care either way. I waved sheepishly to everyone in the room, and then headed toward the door as quickly as possible while trying not to look like I was in a hurry. I shut the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are we really that bad of company?" Shadow's voice right in front of me made me jump.

"How'd you get out here," I asked, trying to smile.

"I walked out the door. Don't worry, I'm really sneaky," he replied.

"I see," I nodded, smiling a little. He really didn't seem like a bad guy.

"So what were you looking for in there anyways?" Shadow asked. He was slightly taller than Caleb was, when he was standing fully erect at least. He tended to crouch forward much more than Caleb did. It crossed my mind that age might be a factor. I'd learn later that this wasn't the case, that Caleb's posture was simply an abnormality.

"I was, well, just looking for a clock," I admitted, blushing. As I expected, he started laughing. It wasn't a mean laugh, though. It was almost friendly. Somehow he managed to make me laugh a little as well. I decided that I liked him right then.

"Take a look out any window," Shadow said, recovering himself. "We're in space. There is no time of day. Sleep when you're tired and eat when you're hungry. You'll get used to it," Shadow said with a smile. "I've got an idea. How about I show you where the cafeteria is?"

"Okay. I was getting kind of hungry," I said.

"Right this way," Shadow said as he started down the hallway. He entered the dormitories and walked along briskly, calling back at me to hurry up.

"I'm not as fast as you," I said, frustrated.

"Well that's obvious. That's why I'm going fast. I'm making you faster," Shadow explained jokingly.

"I see," I laughed. I decided I could probably trust Shadow, so I decided to ask him one of the many questions I had. "Hey, Shadow. Why does Caleb act the way he does?"

Shadow slowed down to walk with me. "That's a tough question," he said. "Caleb knows a lot more about the universe than any of us. He's got a lot of secrets that he refuses to share. I suppose some of them are probably pretty scary or something, and that's what makes him so dark and emo and whatnot." Something about Shadow just made me want to laugh. I didn't want to laugh at his answer, though, so what came out of my mouth was a kind of chocked chuckle. Shadow just smiled. "I guess he's not really emo. He's got a lot of burdens to bear, you know. They say with power comes responsibility, and Caleb's got more power than anybody. Sometimes I think he takes the responsibility part too seriously."

"Was attacking me part of his responsibility?" I asked. Shadow shrugged.

"I have no idea. Caleb doesn't do things without a good reason. He's not evil, really. If you wanna know, you probably gotta ask him yourself," he told me. We passed out of the dormitories and into a long hallway.

"I was afraid of that," I replied.

"You don't need to be afraid of him. If he wants to kill you, you're dead and avoiding him won't change that. Otherwise you're perfectly fine, but avoiding him won't get your questions answered."

"That's easy for you to say, he's not after you," I said.

"Yeah, I guess perspective really is everything." He stopped outside a sliding glass door that was slightly larger than most of them. "Well, this is le café," he said rather in a rather cheesy voice. "I myself am not hungry, so I bid you ado, goodbye, hasta luego, adios, manana, banana, bye bye, and to-da-loo. Peace out!" he said, making himself laugh as he walked away back toward the dormitories. I laughed as well. He was a bit odd, but I couldn't help but like him. I walked into the cafeteria, waiting for him to turn the corner first.


	11. Chapter 10: Running the Wormhole

Chapter 10: Running the Wormhole

The cafeteria was entirely abandoned. It was by far the largest room I had seen yet on the ship. It must have been right on the edge, because the far wall and the ceiling were the same thing, both part of the upper curve of the cylinder. It made the room look like half of an airport hanger, with the curved ceiling dipping all the way down to the floor. This room had a white tiled floor and the typical white walls and ceiling that the rest of the ship had. Against each of the flat walls to my right and left there was a long buffet arrangement with quite a few different foods set up. Much of it looked like nothing I'd ever seen before, but there were some fruit that at least looked similar to what I had eaten back home. Since the cafeteria was deserted, I decided to try a few things. Most of it was actually surprisingly good. I had almost finished when I heard the door open again. I looked up to see who or what would come through, and I was almost surprised to see Gatomon.

"Kari! There you are. I've been looking all over for you," she said, running up to me. She jumped up onto the table next to my plate. "What is all this stuff?" she asked, giving the food a quizzical look.

"I have no idea, but it tastes okay," I said.

"Kari, you shouldn't eat something if you don't know what it is," Gatomon lectured.

"Don't worry Gatomon; I'm sure all of this stuff is okay to eat. Why were you looking for me?" I asked.

"Well, originally I was worried about you. Then Gaustal asked me to find you anyways," she explained.

"Okay, so where I we meeting him?" I asked, picking up my plate and looking around for a place to put it.

"On the bridge. Let's hurry," Gatomon said. I didn't move. I couldn't just leave my plate here.

"Gatomon, what am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, holding up the plate.

"Uh, I have no idea," she said, giving the plate a skeptical look.

"I will take care of it," a voice said from somewhere. "Thank you for your concern, though." I looked around, wondering where on earth the sound could have come from. I couldn't see anyone else around. "I will need the plate though." This time I was able to zero in on the voice. It came from the floor, near my foot. I looked down to see a squirrel. It wasn't quite a normal squirrel. It's tail was about twice as long as it should have been three times as wide. Also, its fur was a dark forest green color. It was looking up at me with very human-like eyes, which were colored to match its fur. "My name is Silvia," it said. I think I could tell from the voice that Silvia was a girl, but I wasn't quite sure. "I am in charge of housekeeping around here, and in charge of the cafeteria. I usually just come around and clean up the plates myself. I'll take your plate for you."

"Oh, um, thank you," I said, bending down and handing the plate to her. With remarkable celerity, Silvia darted off and ran under one of the buffet tables. I stared after her for a second, slightly confused.

"That was interesting," Gatomon said, jumping up onto the table next to me. I just nodded my affirmation. "Come on, we should get going."

"Yeah, you're right," I said, finally starting to walk out of the room.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"It's a pleasure to see you all again so soon. I hope you've all had a chance to sleep," Gaustal said, his tone rising to his standard grandeur. Our group had gathered once again in the bridge, digimon and all. We were slightly startled by the change of scenery outside, but I guessed we were about to get an explanation.

"What you see out the window is clearly not space," Gaustal said, almost as if he were selling it to us. "It is the inside of what is called a wormhole." The wormhole seemed to be a long tube, almost like a sewer pipe, whose walls constantly swirled. It reminded me of seeing cartoons that tried to portray the inside of a tornado or whirlpool. The walls of the tube shimmered with a bright white light, illuminating the tunnel. The swirling light blocked out anything we might have been able to see beyond it so that it really was like being in a sewer pipe.

"The wormholes are like secret passages in the universe. There are billions of them, and they can bend space so that you can travel positively insane distances in only a few hours. In fact, since entering this wormhole only two hours ago we are almost to the point where we can no longer see your sun, even as a star glimmering faintly in the distance," Gaustal said. "The wormholes are an interconnected network. Not all of them connect, but many do, and they form a wondrous super-highway we can use to travel. And most importantly, you can breathe in them."

"How is that possible? If they're in space then there's no air," Izzy asked.

"You see, a wormhole is a compression of space. Space does contain scattered particles, some of which are oxygen. The wormholes compress those particles to the point that they form a kind of wormhole atmosphere. And don't worry, we constantly monitor the flow of deadly gasses in space so as to ensure that nobody goes outside into the wormhole when they are near. Now, I have one last gift for you before I tell you about your missions."

He offered us all small purple bracelets, one for each person. "These are called drifters. They will move through the wormhole according to the thoughts of the person wearing them. Be very careful to never touch the sides of a wormhole, or to exit one unless you know that it exits in a livable atmosphere. Now, on to your missions."

"But we haven't even been here for a day yet? This is too much to learn," Matt protested.

Nonsense, it's not as complicated as you're trying to make it," Gaustal retorted. "Now, on to your assignments. Tai and Kari, you will be working with four other team members. They will be Blitz, Shadowfox, Lica, and Garret. I put you on a strong team because your planet is a little dangerous at the present time. Next up,"

"Wait, are you splitting us in two?" Matt asked.

"No, I'm actually splitting you into three. Izzy is going to remain here and help Sablin on the technical end. We'll drop group B, that's Tai's group, off at their planet, then drop group C at theirs, and then we're off to pick up group A elsewhere. Then we'll be back for you. With any luck, all the groups will be successful."

"But I figured we'd be working together," Sora protested.

"You are. You're working together to gather different pieces of the map. I want to be done some time in the near future, so splitting the groups is the only option," Gaustal explained quickly. "Now hurry to the exit, you two," he indicated Tai and me, "Since Kari took so long getting here we're almost to our stop. Go go go go go!" Gaustal yelled, nearly shoving us out the door. I looked at Tai, who just looked back at me and shrugged.

"I guess we head this way, right?" he asked, pointing down the hall.

"I think so." I could vaguely remember coming down this hallway when boarding the ship. When we finally reached the end, we found ourselves looking at the small room which we had first entered. The glass door was shut, and beyond it four people waited. I immediately recognized Blitz, Shadow, and Garret. The fourth person I did not know, but I assumed that it had to be Lica. She appeared humanlike up to the point where she was covered in feathers from the neck down. Her arms and legs ended in talons rather than hands and feet. Her arms actually appeared to be more like wings, having very long and thick feathers extending downward from them. Her red hair was long and smooth, falling over her shoulders and sometimes her face, hiding a fair complexion broken up by fierce red eyes. She wore no jewelry or clothing, which I found very odd, but I suppose her feathers covered her body well enough anyways, so there was little need for it.

"You're late," garret grunted, pressing a button that opened the sliding door, allowing Tai, Agumon, Gatomon, and I into the room. The door slid shut once we were inside.

"Sorry, I kind of held everyone up a bit," I said, rubbing the back of my head.

"No worries," Shadow grinned. "Let me introduce you to our resident spirit caller, Lica!" Shadow made a gesture toward the feathered girl. "She doesn't talk much, but don't hold it against her." Lice only rolled her eyes.

"Some would say you talk too much," Garret told Shadow, poking him with the end of his tail.

"Now, you must be Tai then," Shadow said, turning now to my brother.

"Yeah, I'm Tai," he said with a simple nod. "And who are you?"

"Name's Shadow. The white fuzzy one is Blitz, and the big dragon thingy is Garret," Shadow said.

"Well, nice to meet you all," Tai said. Blitz was the only one to respond.

"Welcome aboard, gentlepeople," he said with a warm smile. In the light, I could tell that his halo was not supported by anything, but was actually hovering over his head. His wings were also attached to his body, as a rather large hole in the back of his shirt displayed his shoulder blades.

"You all there?" Gaustal's voice sounded over an intercom.

"Yes, we're all here," Garret responded monotonically.

"Okay. You're route to the planet is very simple. Just continue down the offshoot we're dropping you at. We'll enter the planet to pick you up. Set off your homing beacon when you've got the map piece or if you run into too much trouble," the intercom said. As it finished, the door opened. A slight wind blew into the room.

"I hope you two know how to use those bracelets," Shadow said, jumping out of the ship and remaining suspended in the wormhole. Garret and Lica followed quickly, drifting out toward Shadow. I looked at Tai, and he looked back at me, and then we both looked at our digimon. With a deep breath, we all clasped the bracelets on and walked out of the ship.

I could feel the loss of gravity almost instantly. My hair started to float up and my stomach churned slightly as whatever was inside it shifted in the weightlessness. It took my mind a second to adjust to the sensation. I suddenly felt something clasp at my ankle. There was a slight stinging sensation in it, and as I looked down I saw that it was a chain made of some kind metal which was black as night. The source of the chain was Shadow, who had three other chains clasped onto Gatomon, Agumon, and Tai. I looked around, somewhat confused until I looked behind myself. I wa sonly about twenty feet away from the wall of the wormhole.

"Pay attention in here. Hitting a wall could be deadly," Shadow said, the four chains suddenly beginning to retract right into his arm.

"Oh, right, sorry," I said as we were pulled back to the group. Shadow didn't remove the chains, and the four of us glided right past him. He turned around and waited for the shortened chains to stop us again.

"Now, how about you try moving for yourselves. If you just think the direction, the bracelet will move you," Shadow explained again. I tried it, and I suddenly felt my wrist jerk forward. It was very much like being pulled by the chain, only I was pulling myself along. The feeling was very unorthodox.

"It'll be pretty screwy at first, but you'll get used to it," Blitz promised us. He had finally left the ship, apparently after picking up a large bag o some sort which was now strapped over his back.

"Let's get going sometime today," Garret said impatiently. He was already moving slowly toward what looked like a fork in the wormhole, or rather like a small offshoot pipe of the sewer system that the wormholes seemed to be.

"Just stick to the middle and you'll be fine," Blitz told us. "It's not too hard to get used to."

With a deep breath, I started after Garret and Lica, who were already well ahead of us. The wormhole was long and twisting, and was remarkably boring for something so out of the ordinary. The tunnel seemed endless and unchanging, and the constant feeling of being dragged by the wrist through the air was really starting to wear on me. I hardly even realized we were stopping.

Before us there was a mass of swirling light, but this time it was multicolored. Grays and green and blues mixed in with a very dark background, twisting together in a tornado but seeming to flow outward and toward us instead of inward.

"There it is," Blitz said triumphantly. "Let's get a move on." He pressed onward, into the vortex. His body seemed to compress itself as it entered the swirl, crushing itself flatter and flatter as he moved deeper until he disappeared entirely.


	12. Chapter 11: Cannon Fodder

Chapter 11: Cannon Fodder

"Uh, what exactly is that?" Tai asked, staring at the swirl which Blitz had vanished into.

"It's the end of the wormhole," Shadow said. "The wormhole stretches your body over an insane distance. That barrier is the point where your body is recompressed again."

"What?" Gatomon asked.

"Don't worry, you don't have to understand it," Shadow said. "Now come on, I'd like to get moving." Shadow floated back into the swirl, vanishing as Blitz had. Lica followed immediately. Garret gave us a slightly perturbed look and followed as well.

"Come on Tai, let's go," I said, turning around and letting the bracelet drag me toward the barrier.

"Kari I don't know if that's . . ." but he was cut off by an odd whirring sound. The colored light seemed to envelope my body, swirling around it in a mystical twisted of glowing threads. A strange feeling came over me, kind of like what I'd imagine jelly would feel like if it were alive.

I was looking back at where Tai had been, and thus I didn't see the ground. I felt myself fall out of the air and land hard on my back. I must have only fallen a few feet, because I felt just fine after a few seconds. Above me, I could just barely see little wisps of light hovering in the air. I shifted my head a little, and the wisps vanished. Then Gatomon seemed to materialize out of thin air, small threads first appearing and then seeming to wrap themselves together into my digimon. She dropped to the ground, landing on all fours right next to me. I suddenly thought that Tai might accidentally land on me, and so I scrambled to my feet and backed up a few steps. Sure enough, Tai and Agumon appeared out of the air as well, dropping to the ground with a little more grace than I had, having gone through it forward.

I looked around at the world we were now in. The sky was black with clouds, but no rain or lightning fell from the heavens. All around me the scene was absolutely desolate. The land was scarred and gray, and scrap metal was scattered like grains of sand all across the expanse. A few rolling hills and very short cliffs held the wrecked remains of what must have been tanks or bunkers. I suddenly realized that none of the rest of the team was anywhere to be seen.

"Wow, what happened here," Gatomon said, staring around at the scene with a look of awe on her face.

"This doesn't look good," Tai said. "Where'd those guys go?"

"I don't know. I can't see them anywhere," I replied. Off in the distance, I heard a faint boom. I turned in the direction of the sound, but I couldn't see anything. Suddenly, I felt something grab my wrist and ankle. I looked down and saw black chains gripping them, leading off to the left slightly. They suddenly jerked me toward them, pulling me up into the air and dragging me up over the hill. I was faintly aware of the fact that Gatomon, Tai, and Agumon had also been caught by the chains and were flying over the hill with me. As I passed over the crest, I saw a half wrecked bunker down at the foot of the other side of the hill. Shadow stood within the bunker, all the chains connected to his hands and dragging us toward him. Just as we dropped onto the other side of the hill, a shell exploded in a mass of fiery fury and shrapnel on the other side of the hill. I screamed, covering my head as I landed on the side of the hill. Tai, Agumon, and Gatomon landed next to me, but it was less than a second before the chains yanked us once again, dragging us the rest of the way into the bunker. I felt someone grab me and drag me behind the wall, just as another shell exploded on the hill. I saw shrapnel fly through the hole we had entered through, scattering inside on the floor of the bunker. My heart was going a million beats a minute. I looked around quickly, finding Gatomon, Tai, and Agumon next to me. Another explosion sent a shockwave through the bunker. It must have been a direct hit, because the walls and fragile ceiling shook with the impact.

"What's going on?" Tai yelled. He and Agumon were being held by Garret, who had dragged them into the corner and out of the way of the shrapnel. Blitz was the one who had grabbed me, while Lica had snatched Gatomon into safety.

"We're on a battle field. Luckily there's no battle right now," Blitz explained, releasing me.

"That sounded like a battle," Tai said. Who was shooting at us?"

"I'm going to guess it was one of the two local armies," Shadow replied, peering cautiously around the half-collapsed wall of the bunker. "I don't think they're firing shells anymore." As I watched him looking around for any signs of whoever had attacked us, I saw something fall from his hand and splat on the ground, where a small dark spot was forming.

"Shadow, are you bleeding?" I asked him. He pulled his head back in and looked at his hand.

"Yeah, some of that shrapnel caught my. It's not bad," he replied. His hand wasn't bleeding badly, but it was bleeding. "Mind taking care of that?"

"No problem," Blitz said, reaching his hand out. A small white light surrounded their hands and the wound stopped bleeding.

"Hey, that's pretty cool," Agumon said.

"It's not that special," Garret said. Agumon turned to say something, but Garret was already moving on to the next conversation. "Lica, see if you can find out where they are."

The bird-like person simply nodded. She stood up perfectly straight and wrapped her wings around her body, as if hugging herself. Her eyes closed and her body went completely still.

"What's she doing?" Gatomon asked, looking up at her.

"She's sending out her spirit to possess somebody," Shadow said. "Lica is an acolyte spirit caller. Traveling with Gaustal's ship is part of her exile which she has to go through to become a spirit caller."

"Weird," Tai commented. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait for her to return to her body and tell us what she found out," Garret grunted.

"About how long will that take?" I asked.

"Depends on what she finds out," Shadow said, peeking around the side of the wall again. "Oh crap,"

"What?" Garret and Blitz were instantly at attention.

"If Lica doesn't get back get ready to pick her up and carry her," Shadow said. "There's some dudes in red heading for us."

Lica's eyes opened just then, and she immediately spoke. The first time I had heard her speak so far. Her voice would probably have been soft and gentle if it wasn't so rushed. "They're bringing in foot soldiers. Break east immediately." Without another word, Shadow, Blitz, and Garret took off. We followed as quickly as we could, rushing out of the bunker and chasing them away from where the shells had come previously. I looked back over my shoulder to see about twenty soldiers in red armor giving chase. Even running as hard as I could, I could tell the soldiers were gaining ground on me. Tai as well. Gatomon was keeping her pace even with mine, as was Agumon. The rest of them were already well ahead of us.

"Tai, what are we going to do?" I yelled desperately, trying to run faster.

"Just keep running!" That much seemed obvious, but the soldiers were faster. Looking ahead again, I saw Shadow dropping back.

"When we get back," Shadow panted between breaths, "All of you are getting some serious practice running." Something was forming in Shadow's paws. It was a dark substance that looked slippery and sticky, and seemed to materialize out of his hands. It suddenly solidified into two solid black orbs, which he immediately dropped. He watched over his shoulder as he ran with us. Suddenly I heard an explosion, causing me to look back. A black cloud was rising from the earth, and several soldiers were rocketing through the sky. One of them was actually blown in front of us by a few yards, his gun skidding several meters more away from him. Shadow scooped it up and thrust it into Tai's arms. "Hang on to this, you may need it later." Shadow was forming the black orbs once again in his hands. The soldiers who had avoided the blasts were still after us. They were still too far away to shoot accurately, but not by much. There were about thirteen, from what I could tell. Shadow dropped the orbs again, trying to separate them slightly so that they'd hit more soldiers. Ahead of us, the other three were slowing down to let us catch up. They must have resigned themselves to fighting was all I could figure out. The explosions went off behind us again, but when I looked back only two soldiers had been caught by the blast this time.

"Blitz, Lica, take them on ahead," Garret yelled to the other two. "We'll hold them up!!"

"But we can . . ." Gatomon started to protest.

"You'll get your chance," Blitz said, grabbing Gatomon and carrying her forward. Shadow and Garret both stopped and turned to face the oncoming soldiers. Behind me, I heard gunfire. I was tempted to both turn back and dive to the ground at the same time. I did neither, though, and instead I just kept running. The gunfire faded into the background as we ran. I'm not sure if I heard it stop or if we just managed to get far enough away. It didn't really matter, though. I was still worried about them.

Blitz and Lica stopped running, and the rest of us with them. We all turned to look back over the open battlefield. It certainly was a large one. We could see our tracks trampled into the dirt stretching out over the hills, winding through the scraps of metal that littered the landscape. The devastated plain was still all we could see in any direction.

"Do you think they're okay?" I asked, staring at the horizon. It dawned on me just how far we had run, and just how tired I was, for I dropped to the ground, breathing heavily.

"They'll be fine," Blitz said. "Shadow and Garret won't have any trouble with those guys. But while they catch up, we should keep moving." Blitz turned and started to walk east again. At least, I guessed it was east, as that was the direction Lica told us to run in and we hadn't really changed course. I'm not sure how exactly they knew which way was east anyways. It really didn't matter, though. We had more been running form those soldiers than in any particular direction.

Blitz was still carrying Gatomon. Now he set her up upon his shoulder. "Keep an eye out behind us," he told her. We all started walking. I don't know where we were headed, exactly, but I suppose that either Blitz or Lica must have known. Tai had another question.

"We're looking for some map, right? Are we even sure where it is?" he asked.

"We know that a piece is somewhere on this planet. We need to find some friendlier people and try to get some info on it," Blitz explained.

"And do we know where these people are?" he asked.

"Well, not really. We're in a warzone, so we're pretty much stuck between two armies. That last army certainly won't help us anymore, so we're going to have to try to talk to the other one. Speaking of which, you'd better drop that," Blitz indicated the gun that Shadow had given to Tai. Tai chucked it sideways. He didn't know how to use a gun anyways, so I guess he wasn't terribly attached to it.

"Are you sure those two will be all right?" I asked. I was still awfully worried. Blitz seemed fairly confident in the two of them, but according to my logic eleven soldiers with guns were not easy to fend off.

"Of course I'm sure. I would've stayed too if I thought they'd have any trouble," Blitz replied simply. "Right now we need to just keep moving, preferably away from that army." I wasn't completely convinced. Of course, Caleb had been awfully powerful. Maybe all of whatever he was were also powerful. I suppose if they were he might be able to beat the soldiers. I could only hope, though.

We walked on through the wasteland. Above us, the dark sky was growing even darker. I guess night must have been falling. I suddenly remembered that I had awoken this morning in my own bed back home in Tokyo. It dawned on me that I was now farther away from my home than I had ever imagined. I guess I was already starting to feel a little homesick. The sky at least gave the indication that certain laws of logic still applied. Night and day still seemed to exist. Still, I couldn't tell exactly how long I'd been awake. I was starting to feel tired, and the running earlier in the day didn't help.

"Everyone hold up for a second," Blitz said, snapping me out of my thoughts and back into the situation. Ahead of us I could see something moving on the horizon. It was hard to tell exactly what, but my best guess was that it was more soldiers.

"Should we run?" Gatomon asked, swiveling around to look at the group. They were clad in blue armor, and thus apparently came from a different army.

"No. We stay right where we are and wait for them. As long as we show no signs of aggression they'll probably not attack us," Blitz replied. "And in case they do, I'll just have to protect us all."

"Well why did the red guys attack us?" Tai asked.

"Fair question. I'd guess that our magical appearance from the middle of nowhere startled them. That and Garret is ugly," Blitz replied with a chuckle. Nobody else laughed, and he just shrugged. We all obeyed though, standing stalk still except for my increasing shivering as the soldiers in the blue armor surrounded us.


	13. Chapter 12: Blow Me Away

Chapter 12: Blow Me Away

They fall in line, one at a time, ready to play (I can't see them anyway)

No time to lose, we've got to move, steady your helm (I am losing sight again)

There's nothing left, so save your breath, lying in wait.(Caught inside this tidal wave)

Your cover's blown, nowhere to go, holding your fate.(Loaded I will walk alone)

Fire your guns, It's time to run, Blow me away. (I will stay, in the mess I made)

After the fall, We'll shake it off, Show me the way.

Only the strongest will survive. Lead me in heaven when we die. I have a shadow on the wall. I'll be the one to save us all.

"Keep your hands on your head and do not move," one of the soldiers told us. We all obeyed immediately. There wasn't much else we could do at the time.

"Hey, we don't want to fight," Tai said. "We're just here to . . ."

"Don't bother, they can't understand you," Blitz said. "Remember, you've got that earpiece which translates their language for you. They don't."

"Quiet!" One of them barked. I found it kind of hard to understand how we could understand them without them understanding us. I guess it didn't matter, though. They pushed us along the path, leading us eventually to some kind of large military base. It had high metal walls, plenty of gun turrets placed upon those walls, and only one visible door in the walls. We were brought in through that door, into an open area where several tanks, functional ones this time, were parked at varying intervals.

We were led into a large building and through a series of corridors. There were pipes and wires everywhere, often taped or clamped up on the ceiling above us. We eventually entered a fairly small room where three soldiers, this time not in armor but in military uniforms, waited for us. They appeared to be perfectly normal humans, except for one notable detail. Their skin was bright blue. It caught me off guard a little bit, and I at first wondered if it might be paint, but as I looked at them I thought that it actually might be their regular skin.

Several of the armored soldiers waited in the back of the room to see what would happen. My arms were becoming increasingly tired, and I was relieved when the uniformed man who appeared to be in charge said "at ease." I dropped my hands to my side, breathing a sigh of relief. Blitz reached into his pocket and quickly brought out one of the earpieces. He held it out to the apparent commander, who took it cautiously and observed it, not sure what it was. Blitz pulled his own device out of his ear, showed it to the commander, and stuck it back in. The commander nodded and did the same.

"Now, will this device allow us to understand you?" The commander asked.

"It should," Blitz said, keeping his head as level as possible.

"And it does. Now, my men tell me you were wandering the battlefield. You certainly don't look like red troops, so I'll give you a chance to explain where you came from," the commander said quickly.

"We came from a very faraway land," Blitz replied. I was amazed at how well he handled this. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing the entire time. He never even stuttered. It was the same kind of calm, easygoing demeanor that he had demonstrated earlier in the day. "We're looking for a piece of a very special map. It's got some really weird markings and such on it."

"You're pilgrims from overseas, then," the commander said. I was rapidly becoming confused by the conversation, but there was nothing I could do about that now. I would have to wait for Blitz to explain it to me later.

"Yes, indeed we are," Blitz replied. "Do you have any idea where we could find this map?"

"The sacred scroll of Ghalyl rests in a temple just a few hours east of here. Follow the road and you'll come right to it. Now then," the commander looked toward the armored men behind us. "Escort them out of the base. They pose no threat to us."

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"What was that all about?" I asked, catching up with Blitz after we had gotten a little distance from the base.

"What was what about?" he gave me a confused look.

"All that temple stuff and the scroll," I explained, not sure how to phrase the question due to my lack of understanding of it.

"Oh yeah," he said as if something had just hit him. "I forgot, you were late for the briefing. Tai too." Blitz just nodded as we continued on down the road. There wasn't as much destruction here, and the dirt road was clearly worn into the ground. Still, the scenery was rather dark. "We're looking for a piece of the map, Almeadon. Sablin confirmed that it was on this planet, and that it was in a temple. Apparently they think it's some kind of sacred relic."

"Don't we think that too?" I asked.

"Of course we do, but we actually know what it does. They don't. We also need it. We just have to find where it is and steal it from the temple. Pretty simple really," he said.

"We're going to steal it?" I asked. Needless to say I was rather shocked by this. I hadn't thought we'd be stealing anything.

"No other way. Besides, they don't need it for anything," Blitz said.

"But couldn't we just explain to them why we need it?" I asked. I really didn't like this idea. Blitz stopped walking and looked at me.

"Kari, some things are just unavoidable. They'll be better off once we use that map to find the Endbringer. Stealing a useless piece of paper is a rather small price to pay for something like that, don't you think?"

"I guess," I replied, sulking a little bit. Blitz just shrugged. I looked at Gatomon, who looked back at me with a slightly worried face.

A few hours down the road was going to be too much for me. I could tell that after another thirty minutes of walking. Tai didn't look like he was feeling very good either. I was going to ask Blitz to stop and rest, but he beat me to it.

"Okay, we're gonna take a quick nap here," he said, stopping off by the side of the road. "Hopefully Shadow and Garret will catch up with us. Lica will play lookout, since she's so good at that."

"Shouldn't we alternate the lookout?" Tai asked generously. It made me smile that he was still able to think of everyone.

"Nope," Blitz said simply. "Lica's amazing. So amazing in fact that she can detach her spirit from her body, remember. So she can let her body sleep while her spirit keeps watch. Brilliant, no?"

"Yeah, it's great," I said half-heartedly. I was tired, slightly cold, and not at all enticed by the idea of stealing that map piece, so I guess my voice shouldn't have sounded particularly cheery anyways. Blitz just gave me a little smile and lay down off to the side of the road. We all followed suit, except for lica who once again assumed her self-hugging pose, eyes closed. I guess her ody sleapt whenever her spirit left it. That made sense, I suppose.

I was awoken sometime later by the sound of talking. Rubbing my eyes slightly, I looked over at Tai. He was still snoring peacefully, as wer Agumon and Gatomon. Lica was still in her pose when I saw her again, but she was in a different spot than she had been. I thought at first that the talking was probably Garret and Shadow returning, and I turned to finally see where the sound was coming from. My breath stuck in my throat when I saw that Blitz was talking to Caleb.

"Well, look who's awake," Blitz said cheerily, but in a whisper. "Sorry if we disturbed you."

"N, no, not at all," I said sheepishly.

"Jeez kid, get over it already," Blitz chuckled at me. Caleb just watched me, his eyes still blinking in many colors. "Caleb's just here to, well I don't know actually. You must be a light sleeper, 'cause all we've said is hellos and stuff."

"He, yeah, I guess," I said, still uneasy.

"I came to tell you about that temple," Caleb said. He was facing Blitz now. I could still see the colors dancing in one of his eyes, though. It still freaked me out a little. "It's on a pedestal which will explode if the map is removed or if anything touches the pedestal. The map itself is invincible, so you can blow up the pedestal at range and then take it. Once you do, obviously you'll need to bolt to the wormhole again. "

"The bolting part is pretty obvious. It'll be easy, though, as we won't have to maintain inconspicuousness," Blitz replied. "Thanks for the pillar tip, though. By the way, seen Shadow and Garret?"

"They'll arrive at the temple at about the time you demolish the pillar, give or take ten minutes," Caleb replied. He sounded like he was stating a fact. I found it hard to believe he could guess that accurately at when they'd arrive, but I didn't feel like questioning him just yet. My eyes must have asked my primary question for me, though, or maybe those eyes of his can really read my thoughts, because he turned to me, his eyes flashing and even rolling around in his head, scaring me even more.

He waited for a moment, until his eyes could stop moving and lock onto me. His stare was cold, emotionless, but surprisingly it didn't seem angry. "Don't worry. I don't fault you for not running. I fault myself and my pride. I will not seek to harm you for it. It's no longer worth the while." He turned abruptly and started to walk off. I could only watch him go, slightly stunned and slightly relieved. I'm not sure quite why, but I believed him this time, beyond a shadow of a doubt. There was something about him that seemed to speak the truth, like he would either tell you something honestly or not speak at all.

"Hey Kari," Blitz said, snapping me out of my reverie. "It is about time we got going again anyways. Wake up your brother and everyone. Hopefully Lica will get the hint." I did as commanded, gently shaking Tai, Agumon, and Gatomon awake. It didn't take long for Lica to awaken either. Her eyes simply flickered and she assumed a slightly more relaxed pose with her wing-like arms down at her sides.

"And off we go," Blitz said, starting down the road."

"Can you give us a minute to wake up?" Tai asked, still stretching and yawning.

"Nope, no can do. We've got places to go, people to see, and explosions to make occur," Blitz grinned. "So let's get to it!"

Even with Blitz's pep talk, we started off slowly from our rest spot. It was still quite a distance to the temple, and the rest stop had not restored much of our energy. It occurred to me that I didn't know when Agumon and Gatomon had eaten last, and if they were hungry they might not be able to digivolve. That would be a problem if we were going to run into conflict. I cast a nervous glance at Tai, but he didn't seem to notice. Maybe my mind was still too tired. Shadow had told me to sleep when I was tired, so I figured that would be as soon as we got back to the ship. If we got back to the ship.

Another hour down the road, we came across a fairly large town. The villagers were in the process of constructing a wall around it made of brick, but they were far from finished. Nobody was working on the wall right now anyways. I estimated that it must be close to one in the morning on their planet, based on the darkness of the sky relative to what it had been upon our arrival. The town didn't seem to be very busy. In fact, it didn't seem like there was anybody yin it. Everyone must have been sleeping.

The temple was easy to find. It was right at the end of the main road in the town. It was far and away the most complex building in the town as well. It didn't actually sit on the ground, but on top of about eight stone pillars which held it some five feet over the ground level. It was buttressed by just as many pillars on either side of it, and two thin stairways began several feet apart on the ground and came together at the temple's door. There were no spires. The roof was actually perfectly flat, almost making the building appear cube-like. This was unique because most of the other houses in the village had domed roofs and windows. The temple had no visible windows. It appeared to be solid concrete.

Blitz walked up to the large door. He gave it a few solid tugs and then drooped his head. "It's locked," he told us. "I guess that means we're going in the hard way."

"And what's the hard way?" I asked.

"We need Agumon to digivolve and plow through the door. Once that's done, I'll locate and shoot the pillar from a distance. Then we grab the map and scram as fast as we can. Lica and I will fly. Greymon can carry you guys. Shadow and Garret should show up soon. Shadow can fly, and Garret will just run. We'll retrace our steps basically, avoiding that army base. Everybody understand?"

I nodded nervously. I still wasn't sure I liked the idea, but there was no going back now. "In that case, whenever you're ready, Agumon," Blitz said, waving his hand toward the door.

I can imagine that the nun who was sitting in a pew near the front of the temple was quite surprised to see a giant dinosaur burst violently through the door at some unknown hour of the morning. I imagine this because I'm not sure if her first reaction was surprise or fear, or for that matter if she was even a nun or not. She looked like a nun, but this wasn't earth. She could have been something else. Regardless, she was much too close to the pillar, which was rather easy to see as it was the centerpiece of the temple.

"Kari, get her back," Blitz told me. Hardly thinking, I rushed forward and took the nun by the arm. I pulled her up out of the pew and back toward the door.

"Don't worry, you'll be okay," I promised her. She didn't put up any struggle, either because she was too shocked or scared or had no idea what was going on or possibly some combination of the three. As soon as she was near the back, she started screaming finally, ensuring that if the crash hadn't awoken the nearby town, she certainly would. Blitz couldn't have cared less. A bow made apparently of solid light had appeared in his hand, and a similar arrow was strung on it. A small twang was heard as the arrow zipped forward, crashing into the pillar.

Anyone who hadn't heard the crash or the scream most definitely heard the explosion. A ball of fire erupted forth, annihilating the entire other end of the temple. Stone was blasted up into the air, crashing down around the other side of the temple, some of it landing on the remaining half of the roof and causing it to shake dangerously.

Luckily for me and the nun, Gatomon had tackled us behind one of the pews near the back. Otherwise the fireball that had erupted from the pillar would have probably burnt us to a crisp. I looked around desperately to see where the others were. Greymon had taken an almost direct hit from the explosion, but it appeared he was alright. He was tough and probably far enough away from the last. Blitz was the closest to the blast, but when I saw him he was ducking under a glowing barrier of light which seemed to be emanating form his hand. Lica had not entered the temple in the first place, so I assumed she was safe. Tai had been hiding behind Greymon. It amazed me to no end, but everyone seemed to be safe.

In the front of the temple, I could see the map piece fluttering in the midst of the rising smoke, the heated air whipping it up and down in the air above the wreckage of the front of the temple. I slowly stood up and looked at it. The flaming remnant of the first six rows of pews threw up columns of smoke and heat, tossing the small sheet in random direction. As Caleb had predicted, the piece itself seemed unharmed. It was an odd picture, looking at the burning wreckage with this tiny little object fluttering helplessly through the air. Somehow, I felt sorry for it. I don't know why, it is an inanimate object, but somehow I connected with it.

My reverie didn't last long. Lica ran into the temple once the explosion seemed over. I looked for one of them to grab the piece, but nobody did. I looked back at the fluttering paper, which was now getting lower to the ground. Out from the smoke, a figure started to emerge. For some reason, my first impression of this shadowed figure was that it must be some kind of devil. The weak flickering light highlighted the massive black bat-like wings that were rising from its back. Its eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. It beat its wings once, launching it up into the air to grab the piece. The wings were much too large for the body, and that probably added to my initial fear. The figure glided forward, snatching the piece, and then landed softly before us. It was Shadow.

"Cool special effects. Might need a second take though," he grinned, his new wings flitting behind him.

"Sorry, not time. If Garret's outside, I think it's time to go," Blitz said, starting for the door.

"He is and so let's scram," Shadow said melodically. "I want to get home soon."

"Kari!" Tai called out. He was now riding on Greymon's head. "Hurry and get on!" I obeyed quickly, accepting Tai's hand as he pulled me up onto Greymon's black head. Gatomon jumped on as well and we started out of the temple.

Outside there were people gathering in the street. Garret stood defiantly in the middle of the road, two large scimitars grippe din his claws. Blitz and Lica were waiting for us behind him. Shadow zipped past us on his giant bat wings, drifting up into the air a little ways. Blitz and Lica followed suit, taking off into the air. Garret threw us a look that said without words that if we couldn't keep up this time he was all for leaving us behind. I hoped Greymon would be able to, if only because he was so much larger than everyone else. I hoped, at least.


	14. Chapter 13: The Legend

Chapter 13: The Legend

I watched them run. Three flew, two ran, and three riding on one of the runners. Mechanically succinct. Greymon wasn't running optimally. His body was tired, and so its motion was imperfect. Eighty-six percent of his maximum speed, which was just enough to keep up with Garret, who was still moving almost optimally. It was rare to see anyone actually running fully optimally.

"Caleb?" the voice came from behind me. I ignored it. I wanted to see what happened to them. Of course, they couldn't see me. I was too far away. Eight and two thirds of a mile away, to be exact. They were running or flying respectively, rushing along the road despite not being pursued. They couldn't know that though. They had to assume the pursuit, because if it was actually there they'd be better off running. With no visibly comparable penalty for running and a serious penalty for being caught it would be foolish not to.

"Caleb, I know you can hear me." I still ignored the voice. It wasn't relevant to me at the moment. I could watch and she would wait for me while I watched, because she wanted to speak and I really did not care. She would wait for me to finish watching so that she could talk to me.

Shadow led them. He blended into the dark sky much better than the others and thus was the best candidate for doing so. He flew higher than everyone, locating any possible problems and guiding everyone else. It took two hours and sixteen minutes for them to return to the wormhole and enter it safely. They were pursued, but Shadow was the only one who ever saw the pursuers. They did an excellent job of avoiding the pursuit of the village which came much too late and the scramble pursuit of the base. Overall I'd call they're escape from the planet rather easy.

"There, they're gone. Will you listen to me now?" the voice said behind me. I turned back to face her. As per usual she was drifting a few feet off the ground, her eyes glowing very faintly. It was a signal that her mind was running. It was levitating her.

"What do you want?" I asked. I hadn't expected her to appear here.

Mew just looked at me now. I suppose she thought I should know. Resigning herself to the fact that I didn't, she finally spoke. "Why in the world did you do that?"

"What exactly did I do?" I asked her. I understood now. This was merely argument for the sake of argument.

"Ha ha, very funny," Mew replied sarcastically. "Why did you suddenly decide to warn them about that pillar?"

"For Blitz of course," I replied. "Is that all you came here to ask me about?"

"No," Mew said immediately. She didn't want me to leave yet.

"What then?" I asked.

"I was kind of hoping you'd seen the truth by now," Mew explained.

"The truth? And what truth exactly am I supposed to see?" I asked.

"That we have to finish it this cycle. This time there's a legitimate chance to, and we have to take it," Mew replied.

"I believe you know my position, and it holds constant here," I responded.

"When did you actually start to care anyways?" She demanded. She was clearly becoming frustrated.

"When I found out the truth. The prophecy. I don't like damning souls to hell," I replied, turning back away from her.

"You don't know that for a fact," she retorted uselessly.

"I'm certain enough. Fate is unavoidable, Mew. Eventually it will happen, and there simply won't be a choice. You know it as well as I do," I replied.

"Point me to when it will happen, then," Mew demanded, rotating her body so that her head faced directly at me.

"You know I can't. Chaos Theory only allows prediction up to the first decision, at which time a period of deliberation will affect the result in an infinite number of ways," I told her.

"You are an idiot," Mew told me before darting off into the sky. I just turned away from where she had been. Far away, the soldiers were still unable to find Shadow's group. They never would, either. They didn't know how to open the wormhole. Bored with this, I instead looked north.

An aurora was forming, the columns of light already visible in the northern sky. The clouds there had retreated. They left an open path of sky for the aurora to build up in, a masked reminder of the sun's terrible wrath. It is a manifestation of the solar wind. The sun constantly gives off waves of charged particles which bombard their surroundings. This solar wind would normally sweep the atmosphere right off of the planet. However, planets that support life have a natural defense mechanism, that being a core made of iron. This iron core turns the planet into a giant magnet as it spins, which in turn creates a magnetic field. The magnetic field shields the planet and its precious atmosphere from the devastating power of the solar wind. However, sun flares, seen from the planets as sunspots, temporarily increase the flow of the solar wind. Some of the solar wind is then able to penetrate the magnetic field and approach the planet. As these powerful ionized particles drop through the atmosphere, they emit light which manifests itself as an aurora. It is a warning of the sun's burning fury and the violence with which the universe conducts itself.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Sixteen hours and forty-eight minutes later I re-entered the bridge of the Gyros. Sablin was at the controls. She was watching carefully but not really doing anything. The ship was in neutral anyways. Izzy sat next to here. He was watching me out of the corner of his eye. I suppose I couldn't expect less. I wanted to see Gaustal again. That was my only reason for being here. Of course, at the moment he was sleeping. I could see that from the bridge. I had decided to wait here for him to awaken.

I stood slightly right of the center of the room and facing the window. I had my eyelids closed. That by no means impaired my vision. My eyes still moved and saw through their lenses. They rolled in all directions completely independent of each other. Their colors would change as the lenses shifted within each one. The lenses are also independent of each other. With these eyes I could see everything that happened within an eighty-meter radius of where I was. I could see in any direction. I could see through anything. I could analyze anything. I could instantly understand anything in the sense of physics and logic. I still can.

I was surprised to find Kari awake after only seven hours of sleep. With how long she had been awake and all the running she had been doing her body should have remained asleep for nine hours and thirty-one minutes unless interrupted. She had not been interrupted either. I had to stop and ponder this occurrence for a second. Its explanation did exist. The explanation was not within the immediate realm of visible physics. That is why I did not see it at first. It was her light crest. The energy from the crest had allowed her body to recover at a greater rate than normal.

She was exploring again, this time the dormitories. I watched as she wandered the hallway. She seemed rather clueless until she came upon a slightly opened door. Her mouth moved. 'Hello? Anyone here?' is what she asked. There was nobody there. The room was empty. She peered inside. I knew what she would see. I knew even without observing the room form here. It was my room that she was walking into. I turned around and walked out of the bridge.

She entered the room and turned on a light. That action struck me as odd. I had never turned on the light in my own room. I had never needed it. She stepped forward. The room was very blank. There was a bland bed where I slept perhaps once a week for a few hours if I was on the ship. There was a simple desk where I had some sheets of paper lying out. As was natural she went to the papers first. They were the only interesting thing in the room and so it was only natural that the curious sentient mind would be drawn to them. She picked one of them up. By now I had reached the room. She hadn't heard me coming down the hall. She was too distracted by the lack of objects in the room. She heard me walk into the room. She also heard and saw me shut the door because she spun around and dropped the paper back onto the desk.

"Oh, I'm so s-," she froze up upon seeing me. It wasn't all fear this time though. She was certainly afraid. Something else was there as well though. Her fear had slid aside and made room for her to genuinely feel sorry about being caught snooping in my things.

I said nothing. I walked toward the desk without so much as a glance directly at her and picked up the sheet of paper that she had been reading from. I knew which one it was. I knew what was on it. She didn't know though. Even if she had read the entire thing she wouldn't have understood it.

"How much of this did you read?" I asked her, not taking my eyes off the page.

"I, uh, just the first line," she stuttered. I turned to look at her.

"You shouldn't show so much fear. This applies especially much when there isn't an immediate threat present," I told her. She seemed to calm down again. Her fear of me becoming angry at her was still present in the back of her mind. It was only natural that it be there. I figured it would fade in time if this journey were to continue. "This shining city built of gold," I read the first line. "Have you ever seen such a city?"

"A city built of gold? No, I haven't," she replied.

"Would you like to see one?" I questioned.

"Well, I guess I would. It would be pretty neat," she replied. I had distracted her from her fear. Now she was daydreaming some silly fairy tale of such a place.

"I'm sorry, but that city no longer exists," I told her. "Not really anyways."

"What do you mean it doesn't really exist?" she asked me.

"I mean exactly what I said. Don't bother trying to understand it. At least not yet," I explained.

"Um, Caleb," she had spoken to me using my name for the first time. That was a good sign in some ways at least. "Are you mad at me for not running away?"

I watched her for a few seconds. I wanted to try to read her emotions. She actually was sorry that she'd broken our agreement. "I am not." I closed my eyes. It was a behavioral signal. My eyes never really close. "I have decided that it was ultimately a result of fate. I think that neither of us have any responsibility for your being here right now."

"What do you mean?" she asked. Her look gave away her confusion.

"Gaustal's voice surprised you and curiosity forced you to remain and find out why he had addressed me as he did. There was no conscious choice in the matter."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked again.

"It's simple Kari. We have almost no control whatsoever over our lives. The vast majority of our actions are predetermined by the programming of our minds and by the perceptions that come to us from our environment. As I said before, you did not actively choose to stay. In fact, your brain probably told you to run, didn't it?" I knew that part was right before she gave her response.

"Yeah, I guess it did, she responded. "But isn't that just predetermination? If that were the case then according to that time circle thing wouldn't the universe always repeat exactly as it happened the last time?"

She was smarter than I gave her credit for. That concept generally took a while to grasp and then even longer to grasp why and when it isn't so. Mew still disagrees with it slightly.

"Not quite. There are choices occasionally. When the balance between decisions is perfectly even in our heads then we enter a deliberation state. In that state is when we can actually choose one side or the other. These choices are rare though. In your young life you've probably made no more than fifty of them," I told her. Her eyes got wider in surprise.

"I must have made more than that! That would only be, like, four decisions a year," she protested.

"I said they were uncommon, didn't I? Early in life, especially before one turns six years old mentally, there simply are no decisions. So really you've only been making decisions for about seven years, Kari. That would be closer to seven decisions per year."

"Still, that's really hard to believe. What kind of decisions are they?" she asked. She seemed a little worried about this concept and I couldn't blame her.

"Some are important, some are very mundane. It could be a career decision. It could be a decision of what to watch on TV. It could be deciding to eat another peanut. It's hard to locate decisions sometimes. I can tell you of one that I watched very carefully for my own reasons which might interest you."

"Okay, sure," she replied. I briefly considered stopping. It might shock her somewhat. In the end I decided to go on.

"Do you remember a day a long time ago, when you were about eight years old? Gatomon came into your apartment and crawled up on your couch. When you turned around she was surprised and lost her nerve."

"I do remember that," she replied, smiling a little. "I thought it was kind of funny."

"You might not in a second. If you recall Gatomon was working for Myotismon at the time. She was convinced that you were Myotismon's target and she was correct in guessing so. She entered that room with the full intent of killing you."

"But then she decided not to?" she asked innocently. If only things really were that simple.

"No. That was not the critical decision. You were watching television at the time. Earlier in the day, your father had been watching it. He made a decision as he was. He decided on one channel over another. That channel had a higher than normal standard volume, so he lowered it." Kari's face wrinkled up in confusion. She just couldn't put the pieces together. "Later that day you sat down to watch TV. You knew that Gatomon was following you, but you didn't hear her moving within the house. You heard her as she approached you on the couch. If your father had selected the other channel, the TV's volume would have been higher. The channel you switched to would have been just loud enough that you would not have heard Gatomon. You wouldn't have turned around and Gatomon would have finished what she had entered your apartment to do in the first place."

Her mouth hung open slightly. Being eight at the time had made her far too immature to question what Gatomon had been doing on the couch with her claws outstretched. That revelation was only a passing shock though. It was the fact that I had just told her that a decision about what's on TV had saved her life was what made her head swim.

"So I, I . . ." she stuttered.

"In each occurrence of the universe in which you existed your life or death at that time was determined by what would otherwise be seen as an entirely irrelevant decision. I don't mean to startle you, Kari, but it was not that way with some of the previous occurrences." I watched as she sat back on the bed, no longer even aware of her surroundings. I wondered about something just then. For a second I thought that perhaps it was the idea that Gatomon could have killed her and in fact had in previous existences that was surprising her. "To be fair, not all of the past universes happened like that. Nor was I so lucky. There were pasts when I didn't make it through certain things." I wanted to give her some kind of hope now. I actually was starting to feel bad for her. It tightened my resolve against Mew as well. "Actually, Kari, this is the first time that all three of us have survived to this point. You, me, and Mew."

She looked at me again. Some of the shock was coming out of her eyes at least. Once again I had succeeded in distracting her. "Who's Mew?" she questioned.

"Mew is that purple and pink thing that saved you from me."


	15. Chapter 14: A New Path

Chapter 14: A New Path

For some reason I just couldn't wrap my head around what Caleb was saying. It just didn't seem to make any sense to me. It was certainly logical enough, but something about it didn't feel right. I couldn't believe what he was saying. Even his absolute certainty in this idea couldn't convince me that my life was repeatedly determined by a television. It was the first time I'd ever really been forced to consider what this time loop really meant. Still, I had to think he was wrong. It may have been that I simply didn't want to believe that I had such little control over my life. It may have been that I didn't want to believe him, but I'd like to think it was more than that. It was some kind of gut feeling that eventually made me settle on the idea that he had to be wrong.

I hardly heard myself asking about Mew. It was reactionary. My thoughts were still spinning. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I forced myself to disbelieve what he had just told me. That wasn't the way the world works. It just wasn't. My gut instinct must have been satisfied by this, because the great weight that had seemed to fall on me as he spoke suddenly lifted. I felt perfectly normal again. In fact, the concept of such extreme predetermination became almost funny. It was funny. It was silly. It had to be, and I told him so. I almost laughed when I said it, in fact. He simply smiled back at me.

"Ignorance really must be bliss then. I envy you, Kari," he said. I raised an eyebrow. That didn't make a lot of sense to me either, but I was beginning to think that nothing he said would make sense to me. I was about to ask about that as well, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. He wasn't harsh or angry, but I could definitely feel his unreal strength as he effortlessly lifted me up off of the bed. "It's time for you to go. Gaustal should awaken soon, and I was meaning to talk to him." I resigned myself to saving my question for later. I had had enough wondering for one day. Right now I felt like finding Gatomon and getting something to eat.

He led me out of the room and this time closed the door all the way and fastened the lock. "Most people would never walk in there so carelessly," he said. "I suppose you and your friends don't know any better though."

"Guess not," I chuckled.

"I'm going to the bridge," he stated immediately, not really even noticing my comment.

"Okay, bye," I called after him. This time he simply ignored me, continuing down the hall until he turned a corner and vanished from my field of view. He was rather rude. In some ways he reminded me of Ken. I thought that perhaps Caleb could become a friend, even if he was a rather odd one. I hoped so anyways. It's always nicer to be friends with someone.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

I took another nap alter that day, after I had something to eat. I don't know if I had breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It hasn't taken long for me to decide to ignore time like Shadow advised. That could have something to do with the rather long stretch of time I was awake for previously.

I found myself surprisingly bored at the moment. Without school to worry about there really wasn't a lot to do. I didn't feel like discussing my experience with Cale earlier with Gatomon, at least not yet. I guess it was fortunate that Izzy found me just then.

"Kari, Gatomon, there you are. I was looking to gather everyone together in the bridge real quick," he told me.

"What for?" I asked, curious as to what he wanted.

"Gaustal got a really weird e-mail, and he thinks it might lead us to a place where we can find another map piece," Izzy replied. "Anyways, I've still got to locate Sora and Biyomon. I'll see you there."

"Yeah, okay. See you there Izzy," I replied cheerfully. Izzy proceeded past me down the hall with a friendly wave.

"What do you think it is this time?" Gatomon asked, looking up at me with a quizzical look.

"Who knows, but we might as well check it out," I said.

The bridge was crowded for the first time I could remember. Tai, Agumon, Matt, and Gobumon were already there. Shadow and Blitz were there as well. Lica and Apocalypsering were the only other two I recognized, and Apocalypsering I only remembered seeing once and hearing Gaustal say his name. Silvia, the green-squirrel, was there as well. Caleb was leaning up against a wall in the corner, his flashing eyes surveying the scene with their usual icy rainbow stare. There was someone else next to him, though, or rather something else. It looked like a cat at first, a little smaller than Caleb. It had extremely short pink fur. Its back legs were not reversed at the knees like most cats were and it had an abnormally long and thin tail which within the last foot thickened considerably before ending abruptly. Its arms were also very short, especially compared with its legs. Its feet were also abnormally large. The small creature was floating in mid-air, bobbing up and down slowly and just watching Caleb watch the crowd.

I started over toward Caleb and the creature. Gatomon gave me a look like I was insane, but I simply smiled back at her. Her eyes darted back and forth between him and me a few times before she jumped up onto my shoulder and clung there, staring at Caleb. His eyes locked on me for a second but no more as they continued roving the room, still moving independent of each other and making me slightly dizzy. The creature must have noticed Caleb's pause, because it turned to see what he had been looking at.

"Hi Caleb," I said trying to be friendly.

"What is it?" he asked, not really interested. I wondered what Tai would think if he looked over here.

"I was hoping you'd introduce me to your friend," I said simply. Caleb just stared at me for a second before saying,

"This is Mew. She's the one that protected you," Caleb explained. "Don't bother talking to her, you can't understand her with just that crappy little earpiece." I looked at Mew for confirmation of this. She looked at me, then back at Caleb, and then at me again. She suddenly broke into a fit of giggles, rolling onto her back in mid-air and curling up, her hands going to her mouth.

Finally, she stopped and leveled herself. "Mew," was all she said. Upon receiving my quizzical look, she let out another small giggle. "Mew mew," she said again Caleb broke in at that point.

"As I said, you can't understand her. Her language is far too complex for that earpiece," he explained again.

"I see," I replied, placing a finger at my mouth in thought. "Well, nice to meet you, Mew," I said, extending a hand. Mew giggled again and floated forward, grabbing my hand with her tiny paw. She seemed nothing like Caleb. It was hard to believe that she'd actually stopped him after he'd beaten Wargreymon. It made me wonder what kind of power Mew had within her. Gatomon was just looking at me with one of the most confused looks I'd ever seen on her face. "I'll tell you later," I whispered as quietly as possible into her ear.

"Attention, everyone," Gaustal shouted over the room. It fell silent immediately. "I'm glad to see most of you here. I have some spectacular news for you all!" His grandstand gestures and tone were becoming somewhat comical. It almost made me see why Caleb didn't have much respect for him. "I have received recently a most mysterious of emails. It came from someone who labeled himself as the Chaos Emperor!" He paused here for effect. "Now, I have no idea who he is, but he sent us some very valuable information concerning a previously unknown wormhole network. Using this network we will be able to travel much more quickly. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll be setting off on another mission. Rest assured, Sablin and the rest of our research team has confirmed all of the information sent in the email. Now, I would like you all to get plenty of rest over the next twenty-seven hours. That is how long it will take us to reach our next destination, Gergundum!"

There was no applause or cheering like one might expect at the end of such an emotional presentation. I guess nobody really cared for Gaustal's theatrics. Caleb must have been inspired somehow, though, because he pushed past me toward Gaustal as the room was clearing out. With a shrug and another smile at Gatomon, I followed.

"Who exactly do you plan on sending down to that planet?" Caleb demanded as soon as he reached Gaustal.

"Just about everyone available. I figure it will be a difficult one," Gaustal replied.

"That's the last place you can send-" he paused for a moment to turn and look at me. I think he wanted me to go away, but I was far too interested in this conversation to leave just yet. Caleb resigned himself to my presence and continued. "That's the last place you can send anyone who can't defend their own person. They'll get picked off like fruit from a tree."

"Nice metaphor, but I have faith in them," Gaustal stated simply. I could tell he was talking about all of my friends and me. That was probably why Caleb didn't want me here.

"It's not a question of faith here, Gaustal; it's a question of being hunted by one of the most deadly creatures alive," Caleb retorted.

"And we have several very deadly creatures among our own ranks, do we not? If you're so concerned, you could always help us," Gaustal replied.

"Be glad I don't hinder you, though I regret making that deal," Caleb said darkly.

"Ah yes, you would not block us if Mew would not help us. That's how it goes, right? Anyways, I won't bother questioning your reasons again. I know you won't answer. If you really are concerned, though, you ought to come along. We'd love the extra hand," Gaustal smiled. He already knew Caleb's response, which was to shake his head and walk out of the bridge.

"He really does surprise me sometimes," Gaustal says. "I just can't figure him out, no matter how hard I try."

"Um, Gaustal?" Gatomon asked hopping down from my shoulder. "How dangerous is this place, exactly?"

"Well, Gergundum is a planet which contains Demon Serpents. They are a rather vile race of non-sentient monsters with some truly frightening weapons. Sometimes they're just referred to as Aliens because they tend to show up as such on many planets," Gaustal said.

"Are they really that dangerous?" I asked.

"That depends on how you handle them and how many of them there are. I'm not even sure we'll encounter any. I don't know when they release from their little eggs, and so I have no idea if they're there or not," he replied.

"Then why don't we find out if they're there first and if they are we can wait for them to go away?" I asked.

"No reason to. They're not as bad as Caleb makes them out to be, especially compared to the group I've assembled. You'll all be just fine," Gaustal assured me.

It crossed my mind as I left the room that perhaps Caleb had known something. He seemed to know something that everyone else didn't anyways. And if the world really was as predetermined as he said it was, maybe something bad really was going to happen. But if that were the case, would I be able to choose not to go. I certainly felt like I could make that choice at the time. I could choose to remain on the ship, safe from whatever these Alien things were. Nobody can see the future. To this day I firmly believe that the future will always be whatever you make it. I hadn't confirmed that to myself, though. Not quite yet.

_Author's Note: Please, whoever reads this story, send me some kind of comment. Even if you just post "hi" thta will at least let me know you're reading the story and will help me to motivate myself to write more._


	16. Chapter 15: The Demon Serpent

Chapter 15: The Demon Serpent

Gergundum seemed to be entirely covered by forests. I was watching in the bridge as the ship left the wormhole within view of the planet, which seemed to contain very few oceans. Everything seemed to be some shade of green except for a little bit of white on what I guess must have been the poles of the planet.

As the ship floated down to a little ways above ground level, my suspicions were confirmed. Forests stretched endlessly in all directions, occasionally dotted y a small lake or divided by many rivers which chopped the landscape up into tiny little countries of the forest; far from official but nevertheless distinct as some animals would never cross a surrounding river. What kind of animals inhabited the forests I could only guess.

"Listen up, everyone!" Gaustal said to the maybe four of us who were still in the room. "This should not be a very difficult mission. As I see it, we should simply be able to enter the ruin, search it, and locate the piece of the map without much or any difficulty. However, I am going to send a fairly large team just in case we encounter difficulty." He looked toward Gatomon and me with a smile. "If you two would be so kind, could you please locate Tai and Matt and bring them here. They'll both be going."

"Sure," I nodded. As I started out of the room, Gaustal turned to Lica and requested that she find Shadow, Blitz, and Apocalypsering. The last person in the room was some girl whom I hadn't met yet.

It took me a little while to locate Matt and Tai. They weren't in the cafeteria or their own room, so I didn't really know where to look. I was going to report this to Gaustal, but I found them walking with Izzy back near the bridge.

"What's up?" I asked them, turning down the hallway toward them.

"I was just showing them the ship's science center. It's a pretty remarkable setup. Sablin and Yak-Tu have been using it to research Chaos," Izzy explained.

"Who's Yak-Tu?" Gatomon asked with a quizzical look.

"I'm sure you'll meet him eventually. He's very smart, if a little awkward," Izzy replied.

"Anyways, we've been looking for you guys. Gaustal wants Tai, matt, Agumon, and Gabumon on the bridge," I explained.

"Ah right, you guys are heading for Gergundum," Izzy said. "According to Sablin, if the Aliens are awake they will likely try to free their queen. You'd be advised not to let that happen."

"Thanks for the tip, Izzy," Tai said. "Are you and Tentomon coming, too?"

"I wish we could, but I'm still well behind everyone else in terms of the Chaos Theory. The principle itself is pretty simple, but the equations behind it are insanely complex."

"What's the Chaos Theory?" I asked, looking at Izzy.

"It's a little complicated. It's kind of like those weird event chains where a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and six days later it rains in New York City where otherwise it wouldn't have. Basically it's a network of algorithms which is intensely sensitive to initial conditions," Izzy explained, much to my own bewilderment. I didn't immediately connect what he was talking about to the way Caleb had described the universe to me. Izzy used too much technical explanation and so I didn't understand what he meant at the time.

Apparently neither did Matt. "Of course, Izzy," he said, his face wrinkled up a bit. "That makes total sense."

"Well, you guys don't really have to follow it anyways. We just need you to find that map right now," Izzy explained. "I'm going to get back to my research, so I'll see you guys when you get back. Good luck!"

"Thanks. Catch ya later!" Matt called out as Izzy walked down the hall and entered a weird door that I had never been in before.

We walked the short distance to the bridge. Lica had already located her small group of people, so our team seemed to be up to ten. Then the girl from before returned to the room.

"Ritz, did you find one?" Gaustal asked as she entered. Ritz looked like she wasn't much older than me. She may even have been a little younger than Sora. Her hair was very long and a bright red color, which made it seem a little unnatural. Her face was small and determined and she was dressed in a very strange outfit the seemed to consist of small bits of armor interspersed about a leotard that covered her entire form. Her shoulders, chest, and legs also had small bits of armor rising up over them, and at her hip a rapier was sheathed. It wasn't as ornate as the one Apocalypsering had, yet it looked somewhat sturdier.

"Yes, I did," she stated, presenting a small orb roughly the size of a grapefruit to Gaustal.

"Excellent. Hang on to it for this mission," Gaustal instructed.

"What is it?" I asked, looking curiously at the device.

"It is a space-oscillian bomb. It's quite a powerful tool that will force a wormhole to open for a few minutes. It can be used anywhere. All these ones should be set to open the secondary end within the ship's bridge. It's in case there is an emergency," Gaustal explained. "Now, your mission briefing. Everyone pay attention!" Gaustal proceeded to wander over to the side of the room. "It's quite simple, really. One piece of the map found its way into an ancient ruin on this planet. We are going into that ruin to get it. If you encounter any hostile creatures, take them out. You shouldn't have any real trouble with it."

"That's it?" Tai asked. "I thought there'd at least be a map or something."

"It's an uninhabited ancient ruin. Figure it out. You're a smart kid, after all," Gaustal said. "Now, we should be dropping down outside of the ruin any second now . . ." Beyond the window, the ruin in question was coming into view. It looked surprisingly like the ancient Mayan ruins I had seen in a history text once. We hadn't spent much time in class on it, but the architecture seemed very familiar.

From the planet's surface we could get a much better approximation of the size of the structure. On the surface it appeared to be at least the size of the Gyros. I figured it would probably extend underground somewhat as well, meaning that it could take a little while to find the map piece. I went through I quick count of the people present. Tai, Matt and I along with our digimon made six. Blitz, Shadow, and Lica put that up to nine. Apocalypsering and Ritz made it eleven, and Gaustal made twelve.

The entrance to the temple was at the very top of the structure. A long stone stairway led up to it and then downward to the inside. It seemed like a very unnatural way to build a building, certainly. The first stairway dropped down into a somewhat wide open chamber. There were two doorways in this room, one on the left and one on the right.

"Okay, now we split up," Gaustal said. "We have nine combat-capable people. Tai, Agumon, Kari and Gatomon go left. Shadow and Blitz will go with you, and so will Ritz. Everyone else is with me on the right. Meet back in this room in one hour everyone." I looked at Tai and Matt. Matt just shrugged. Tai nodded quickly before we started off.

"Okay, now that this is your second mission, no newbie stuff, okay?" Blitz said. He was walking backward down the stairs, hardly looking where he was going. His hands were now providing the light to see by, and they were surprisingly bright. I figured Gaustal had put someone who could illuminate the ruin in each team.

"Worry about yourself Blitz," Ritz said with an annoyed stare.

"I'm just making sure everybody knows," Blitz said, turning around again and causing his shadow to spin around him as he did, giving the stairway a strange spinning sensation for a split second. The stairs opened into another smaller chamber. There was one exit into a hallway in front of us and exit to the right and left several feet above our heads in the wall.

"This place seems kind of creepy," Gatomon commented.

"Ancient ruin. What'd you expect?" Shadow asked.

I stopped short in the middle of the room. Something wasn't right about it. I don't know why exactly, but I could feel something around us. It was almost like the feeling I had at Yolei's house on the night that Caleb attacked us for the second time.

"Something can see us," I said. Everyone froze.

"How can you tell?" Shadow asked, backing into the group.

"I just can. I can feel it," I replied.

"You can feel it?" Ritz asked sarcastically. She must not believe in intuition.

"Shhh," Shadow quieted. "I can hear it."

Blitz pushed Tai and me into the center of the room and the five of them made a circle around us. Blitz's light bow formed in his hands and Ritz drew the rapier. Shadow pointed his hand out forward and swept it in a slow arc. Four very tall cones seemingly made of complete blackness formed where his hand had been, the sharp points gleaming in the light from Blitz's bow.

"What do you think it is Tai?" I asked. I could only assume that it was the alien thing that Caleb had hinted about. I asked hoping that he'd reassure me that we could handle it. He didn't have time to.

In a flash of green, two of them leapt from the overhanging passages. Shadow's spikes found one, driving it back into a wall but not hurting it badly. Blitz's arrow narrowly missed the other as it fell toward us. Gatomon jumped up just in time to knock it away with a lightning claw. Both creatures were almost instantly on their feet. They were rather horrifying to look at. Slightly larger than a full grown man, their bodies appeared to be a green, shriveled, extremely skinny dinosaur. Their arms were long and lanky and ended in three long clawed fingers. Their skin appeared almost armor-like. Three long spikes rose from their backs and they had an abnormally long tail which swayed back and forth rapidly as they crouched, readying for another attack. The tail was tipped with what looked like a razor sharp blade of bone. Their heads were the strangest part. They were very elongated, the mouth stretching heavily forward from the neck and a large crest running back well past it. I couldn't immediately tell where their eyes were. Their mouths had hardly any lips, revealing very sharp teeth.

"No matter what, do not let them bite you," Blitz warned.

"I'll take this one," Shadow said, indicating the one on the right by flinging several more black spikes at it. The other one attacked with its tail, narrowly missing Gatomon. The tail then whipped toward Ritz, who tried to knock it away with her rapier and was only mildly successful. Agumon's pepper breath did the trick, though. The creature was struck and fell backwards, squealing loudly. Agumon let loose another blast with the creature tried and failed to duck away from. I looked toward the other one to see if Shadow was okay. He had managed to immobilize the thing with those black chains he could summon and was now pelting it repeatedly with what could only be called a black lightning bolt. The other creature leapt over Agumon's next fireball, tackling him to the ground. It couldn't pin him though, as Blitz's arrow connected. For some reason the arrow sailed right through the creature, left no mark, and still managed to knock it backwards. Amazingly the creature scrambled to its feet again. It lashed out with its tail, but Ritz's rapier caught it just right, slicing the tail halfway open. Some kind of disgusting green ooze leaked out of the creature as it whipped its tail back. The ooze fell to the floor and started to sizzle, sinking a little and eating away at the floor. With another screech the thing leapt at us again, only to be met midway by Gatomon's claw and driven back into the wall again. It lashed out with its tail again, no longer possessing the nimble agility it had before but instead possessing an equally if not more dangerous weapon; its apparently acidic blood.

"Kari behind you!" Blitz yelled at me. I spun to see a third creature leaping down at me from the other raised entrance. I fell backward, trying to dive out of the way. A bolt of black lightning saved me, blasting the creature over toward the one with the injured tail.

"Run!' Shadow yelled at us. "I'll clear the room!" Following orders, we fled from the room deeper into the ruin. Shadow followed quickly. He had finally finished the creature he had taken on, but the other two still came after us. He threw up several chains across the passageway, blocking their progress. "Around that corner!" he yelled. We all turned around it, Shadow a little ways behind. He had stopped to do something. He rejoined us shortly, diving around the corner as the shockwave of an explosion ripped through the hallway. A black mist flooded the passage from the chamber we had just evacuated, cutting off our vision. Behind the explosion's noise I could barely hear two squeals of agony before everything went quiet again.


	17. Chapter 16: Nightmare Syndrome

Chapter 16: Nightmare Syndrome

_I slide through the wasteland that's my world,__My hunger takes your life, preyed on to keep me alive, yeah_

_Mercy's all that you need, mercy's empty in me._

_Can't you feel the poison rising, out of the morning and clear through the night?_

_You can feel my strength destroy you, _

_straight to the heart from the venomous bite,_

_That's right; I shed my skin tonight, but my fangs are hard to hide,_

_And you know that you're going to die, yeah._

_Mercy's all that you need, mercy's empty to me._

_Can't you feel the poison rising out of the morning and clear through the night_

_You can feel my strength destroy you straight to the heart from the venomous bite_

_I can't regret;__ can't escape;__ decisions made for me_

_ no control__…_

_Fire that burns and never dies. W__rapped around I'll bury my fangs inside_

_Making my way through the night__ you're still in my sight_

_You're running away cause you know you can't hide_

_My instincts are cold blooded hate; to you I'm the bearer of fate_

_Wrong place and now the wrong time, now terror is all that you'll find_

_Stay inside tonight - you're out there all alone_

_Vanish from my sights - venomous control_

_You won't make it right - my appetite has grown_

_Lost the final fight - no love will be shown_

I collapsed on the ground against the wall, breathing heavily. My heart was pounding in my chest, beating a million times a minute. It was like having a plush jackhammer pounding right under my collarbone.

"Is everyone okay?" Tai asked.

"Looks that way," Ritz replied. She kept glancing back and forth down the hallway we were now in. I suppose she was watching for more of the creatures.

"Were those the Aliens?" Gatomon asked.

"I'd have to guess yes," Shadow said. He was looking back into the room now. "All three of them are dead. That bomb did the trick."

"We should probably get moving. There could be more of them, and I'd rather not be caught standing still," Blitz said.

"Do you think there are more of them?" Agumon asked, sounding slightly scared.

"Most likely there are, but that doesn't mean we'll be unlucky enough to find them," Blitz replied. Taking a deep breath, I rose to my feet again.

"Those things were really creepy," Gatomon said. Blitz started down the tunnel, leading the way with his hands glowing much brighter than before. Shadow was walking backwards at the rear of the group.

"Hey Blitz," Tai started, "you said something about their bite being really dangerous, right?"

"Well, it's not really a bite," Blitz explained. They've got a funny little injector thingy in their mouths, and if they get you with it you're as good as dead."

"Why's that?" Tai asked, his eyes scanning the passage nervously, looking for any places where a creature could leap out at us.

"You don't really want to know. It's kinda sick," Blitz said. "Just don't let it happen."

The tunnel forked a little further ahead, and we took the right path. The hall opened up into a much wider area which seemed to have tunnels spewing forth from it in all directions. We advanced cautiously down the passage, constantly scanning the walls for any signs of the aliens. The silence was almost as terrifying as the monsters themselves.

At last we arrived in a very long and large chamber. It had pillars supporting a much higher than normal ceiling and many ominous offshoot passages the other end of the room was too far away to be seen clearly in the amount of light that Blitz was creating, and I assumed that even if he could create more he wouldn't want to. We were about a quarter of the way into the room when I felt it again. It was ahead of us somewhere, invisible to our eyes but definitely present.

"Wait," I said. Everyone held up again, looking at me and waiting for an explanation. "They're in front of us," I said, pointing down toward the other end of the room. "They can see us." Blitz looked around us quickly, then suddenly the light in his hands flared up, illuminating the room and causing all of our shadows to dance in the sudden radiance.

At the far end of the room, we could see some kind of table. Just barely we could make out that there was something on the table, a paper of some kind. We could also make out several very surprised squeals coming from behind the pillars. They were waiting for us.

Shadow tossed one of his dark bombs ahead of us into the far side of the room, but it didn't explode in time. Eight of the creatures suddenly rushed out form amidst the pillars, streaking toward us and weaving in and out of the pillars. I looked at Gatomon, who gave a small nod, and my digivice erupted with light. Gatomon seemed to shine as well, the brilliance almost blinding. It was blinding to the creatures, who staggered backwards as Gatomon evolved. When the light faded again, she had become Angewomon. Agumon didn't waste any time either. Taking advantage of the momentary blinding of the creatures, he also burst into light as Tai's digivice flashed out brightly. Seconds later he had become Greymon.

"Nova Blast," Greymon roared as he loosed a massive fireball at the cluster of about five of the things in the middle of the room. They scattered, but only three made it out of the way. The other two were rolled backward, screeching in pain as the flame engulfed their bodies. An arrow of light whizzed by head and into the pillars on my right, striking another of the creatures in the lower abdomen. It crumpled to the ground with a squeal. One of the creatures on the left ran up a pillar and leapt at Greymon, who didn't see it. A black chain caught the creature around the neck and stuck it to the ceiling, hanging it in the middle of the room and eliciting another pain-wracked screech from the creature. It still had enough fight left to whip its dangling tail at Greymon, though, and it caught him just below the eye, causing him to duck away and growl in pain as a little stream of blood ran down his cheek. Another of Shadow's chains secured the creature's tail to its body, rendering it out of the fight.

The creature that Angewomon had hit was rising to its feet again, but her arrows were now flying toward the other creatures who Ritz was barely managing to hold off with her rapier. The creature lunged at me, but something blew it away. It was almost like a grey wind whipped through the air and knocked the creature to the side. When I looked again, I saw what had to be the most disgusting sight I'd seen up to that point in my life. The monster was writhing on the ground, its body decaying before my very eyes as the vicious grey wind encircled it. I almost threw up at the sight. I looked for the source of the wind and saw that Lica was standing in one of the passages. The wind suddenly seemed to leave the creature, now dead, and return into Lica's body.

"Gaustal will arrive soon. They are fighting demons as well," Lica said briskly. I turned my attention back to the other creatures. Greymon's fireball had blasted three of them back almost to the far end of the room. The grey wind flew past me again and toward another creature. I turned away, assuming that this creature met the same disturbing fate that the previous one had. Instead I watched Angewomon's arrow strike another of the creatures down. One leapt at her from a pillar, but several black spikes knocked it away, piercing its chest cavity and spilling the sickening green acid onto the floor of the room.

I suddenly felt an incredible force blindside me from the left. I didn't know what it was, but I found myself on the ground with something very heavy pinning me on my side. I felt it force me onto my back and I stared up in horror at the slime-coated teeth of one of the vicious monstrosities. It didn't make sense to me. There had only been one creature in that direction, and Lica had attacked it. Had she missed? I screamed and tried to punch at the creature's head, but neither was effective in getting it off of me. Its mouth shot open and I felt something strike at my chest, just inside of my left shoulder. My eyes slammed shut on reflex. All I could feel was the piercing pain in my chest. Something else was wrong, though. I didn't know what, but something was wrong with this way this thing had bitten me.

The weight suddenly lifted off of me and the creature's projectile tongue left with it, leaving what I found out later was a surprisingly small bleeding hole. I opened my eyes, looking around desperately to figure out what had happened. I saw the creature that had bitten me first. It was now caught in that grey wind, and I looked away quickly. Tai was running toward me. Behind him, I could see another creature leaping at him. Everything seemed to be moving so slowly. The creature was suspended in the air above Tai, every detail of its figure clearly visible all at once. Its mouth was wide open as it screeched, and I could see the strange instrument which must have pierced my shoulder. It looked like a tiny mouth on the end of a solid tongue which hung from the roof of the creature's mouth. I started to scream for Tai to look out, but the words wouldn't come to me. I watched, terrified, as the creature moved in slow motion toward my brother.

Time suddenly accelerated again, and in a flash of blue and white the creature was slammed back into a pillar, shattering the pillar and the creature's skeletal structure all at once. Garurumon had leapt from behind me and body slammed the monster away from Tai, who now dropped down to his knees above me. The sounds of fighting still seemed rather distant to me. I couldn't hear anything. I felt poisoned, but not in a traditional sense. It wasn't a sickness kind of poison; it was an almost surreal poison, like my body wasn't my own anymore. I could feel something that didn't belong. Something was inside of me. I had no idea what it could be, but it was definitely there, and I definitely didn't like it being there.

I let out a groan as Tai tried to pick me up. My head dropped lazily downward. Keeping it up was not a major priority of mine right now. Right now I just wanted to know what that thing had done to me, what it had put inside of me. Tai was running toward Ritz now, who had managed to tear herself away from the chaos. I could see in the background a thick black mist flooding part of the room, another of Shadow's bombs going off. Ritz threw the small device she had at the ground in front of her. I looked down as light exploded out of the device, revealing in the floor below us the bridge of the Gyro. Tai fell through the hole with me still clutched din his arms. He scanned the room in a panic.

Gaustal fell through the whole next. His lips moved, but once again I couldn't hear anything. I felt something very weird happening. It was like the sensation when I had sensed Caleb and when I had sensed the creatures, but this was different. I wasn't sensing danger now. I was sensing something else. Perhaps I was hallucinating. Perhaps my head was just too scrambled.

Gaustal grabbed me out of Tai's arms and ran for the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Caleb. He was watching. I couldn't tell what his face looked like. There was too much movement now; it passed by too quickly. I know that he made a move to follow us as we left the bridge. Gaustal rushed to the right, rushed down the hall, rushed through the door that Izzy had entered earlier, the door I hadn't been in yet. Tai followed, as did Caleb. Orange flooded my vision as we entered the room. Everything looked far too confusing to make out. I could vaguely see that Izzy, Tentomon, and Sablin were in there. Someone else was there as well, but I couldn't figure out who it was. There was screaming, gasping, confusion, and a general hurry, and as I was rushed through another door I could see Caleb enter the orange room. I still couldn't make out his face.

I don't think Caleb was right. This was not destined to happen. This was not controlled by what I had eaten for breakfast, or what shirt Sora had decided to wear. What was happening now, this chaos and confusion, this harmony of disorder, this was not planned. This was not guaranteed. It was just the way things happened. There was some way that I could have stopped this. I didn't know how, but I knew there was a way. Nothing was ever set in stone until it had happened. And as I gained this sudden clarity, or maybe it wasn't even complete clarity yet, but more of just an understanding that something is and not of why it is, I suddenly was no longer poisoned. I could feel, hear, see, smell, taste, everything was moving at normal speed. I was laid down on a table in a high-ceilinged totally white room with a raised window on one side of it. Gaustal looked at me as he manipulated some part of the table. I just lay there and looked back, fully aware of my surrounding, fully able to move my body on my own, fully able to feel some kind of squiring within my chest cavity, and I told him I was fine. That wasn't set in stone either, of course, but I felt like I knew it anyways. I thought he was going to cry.


	18. Chapter 17: Rib Cage

Chapter 17: Rib-Cage

It would have been useless for me to tell off Gaustal right then. It would have been useless to do it at all. He knew I was right this time. I could use that against him later. As per usual his brash idiocy had caused something terrible but not entirely unexpected to happen. For someone who prided himself on this science he used to explain the universe he certainly wasn't interested in checking his facts. Aliens do not have seasons during which they exist. They merely are spawned at certain times to serve a purpose and if they survive then they'll live in the ruins for years. My not telling them this was merely a means to an end.

I followed Gaustal into the science center of his ship. It was primitive in comparison with Slim's laboratory but it would serve the necessary purpose. There was no operating room or emergency intensive care unit. There was only a sealed experiment room. I entered it shortly behind Gaustal. He turned away from Kari for a moment to look at me before returning his attention to the table.

"Gaustal," I began. He paused to look at me. "Go instruct the others on what to do."

"Caleb, I don't know what to do," Gaustal said. "I'm thinking right now!" He was clearly rather frustrated with himself.

"Have Lica calm the thing so it doesn't thrash and then Apocalypsering can guide it out. Sablin can run a constant scan to guide him with," I told him. "I'll handle."

He nodded immediately. I could have told him almost anything right then and he wouldn't have questioned me. He left the room, leaving me with Kari and the alien inside her.

"Caleb, what did that thing actually do?" she asked. Her face had changed since entering the ship. She looked surprisingly calm in spite of her situation. Of course she still didn't know what was going on.

"Aliens use other living creatures to incubate their larva. It planted a baby alien inside of you. That alien will leech nutrition from you for a little while. It will then it will rip its way out of your chest cavity. This will kill you," I told her.

"I thought so," she said sadly.

"Really now? You're smarter than I give you credit for," I told her. It was true. I didn't think she'd understand that. Perhaps Blitz or Shadow explained it to her in the ruins. "We will try to save you. It will be difficult though. We cannot use anesthesia because the chemical would set of a reflex in the alien, causing it to thrash. We are going to instead have Apocalypsering control the creature's mind and attempt to guide it out of your body."

"Did everyone else make it out okay?" she asked me. The question caught me off-guard. That should have been one of the last things on her mind. I checked quickly, flicking my eyes toward the bridge.

"Everyone else is fine. Shadow even managed to get the map piece, if you were concerned about that," I said. She smiled

"Caleb, do you think this was caused by fate, too?" she asked.

"Partially at least. We can talk later if you're still concerned about that," I told her.

"Okay," she said.

"Kari, for this to work it is imperative that you do not move during this process. I'm going to lock you down to the table, but metal is a poor container for flesh. You need to hold as still as you can."

"I can do that," she told me. I just nodded as I started to fiddle with the steel grasps of the table. I locked her legs and hips in place at five points.

"You're shirt's going to have to come off now," I told her. "It would get in the way." She blushed but obliged. I finished fastening her to the table and started to leave.

"Caleb, are you going to help? I'd feel better if you did," she told me.

"I'll do what I can," I told her. At this point what I could do was nothing, but she didn't need to know that.

It was only ten minutes before I found myself in the small room with a glass wall. The wall was a window which overlooked the experiment room. Sablin was set up at one of the three monitor systems in the room meant to observe the experiments. Three screens were already showing the alien's position within her. The key parts were indicated by small labels. The claws, tail, and teeth were the primary problem. The room was populated by all of the digimon who had entered the ship and their respective humans except for Kari and Izzy. They were talking in excessively worried voices about what would happen to Kari. None of what they said would help her of course. Lica and Apocalypsering were present as well. Apocalypsering was seated in a slightly reclined chair so that he could devote his entire focus to controlling the creature. Lica wouldn't have such a problem using her spirits. Apocalypsering's psychic ability would drain him physically.

Izzy and Gaustal entered the room from the orange room. Izzy was carrying several sheets of paper. They were maps of the human anatomy and print-outs of the planner escape route. Once Gaustal knew what he was doing he worked very quickly to gather what he needed. In this instance it was an admirable quality.

"So how long do we have exactly?" Izzy asked Apocalypsering as he passed the sheets to Sablin.

"I can control the thing for about three hours. I've already looked at its neurological signals, and they're significantly different. It might react to my initial advances to control it," he replied skeptically.

"That's what Lica is here for, right Gaustal?" Izzy asked, sitting down at a second station.

"Right. Her spirit will calm the thing so that it doesn't thrash when Apoc is entering its mind," he said. There was no grand or excited tone. He knew this wasn't the place or time for such things.

"Okay, let's see," Izzy said. He was staring at the screens now. "I'd say that thing will not attempt to, er, free itself any time in the next twelve hours based on its size. Whenever you're both ready we can begin." He was speaking to Apoc and Lica. Apoc responded with a thumbs-up. Lica simply nodded. Behind me I saw Mew teleport into the room.

"You're not going to let me help, are you?" she asked me. She sounded angry. Her appearance turned a few heads but nothing more. Apoc was the only one in the room who could possibly understand her, and that was because he could read her mind. His mind was elsewhere at the moment.

I shook my head slowly. It wouldn't matter if Mew helped. Her control over other minds was no better than Apoc's.

"You really are a heartless freak, you know that?" Mew said.

"Such is life," I told her. A simple comment that fit into our conversation and didn't clue anyone else in about what we were talking about.

"If you're that worried about giving something away we can go somewhere else," she said, drifting in front of me.

"I want to watch," I told her simply, stepping past her and toward the window again.

Lica's wings wrapped around her body as her spirit left her. I could see it through one of my eyes, a faint shadow in the shape of her body drifting slowly down toward Kari. It floated int o her body, disappearing without a trace. She would keep the creature calm while Apoc took control of it. He waited for about a minute to mke sure Lica had made it. Izzy nodded to him when he saw the creature's heart rate stabilize. Apoc took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A small amount of purple light seemed to glow below his eyelids as his mind slowly increased in focus.

On the moniters the creature seemed not to be moving. It shook its head slightly which in turn caused Izzy and Sablin to draw in a sharp breath but ultimately it fell under the mind control without so much as a hitch. Now was the hard part.

"Okay Apoc, from what we can see the tail blade is resting right next to her lung. Move it to your left about an inch," Izzy instructed. He watched as the blade slid slowly by on the screen. "Good, now another inch. Nice and slow," Izzy said. He guided the weapons carefully away from the girl's lung. Down below, Kari was giving her stomach an odd look. No doubt she could feel the minute movements. Even Apoc couldn't imitate the smooth sliding motion that the alien was able to use to move almost unfelt within the body. She wouldn't feel any pain from this though. Not yet anyways.

"Now move the left hand upward just a little bit, until you feel some resistance," Izzy said. They proceeded on like this for an hour. Moving an inch this way and half an inch that way was a highly inefficient means of moving the creature. The key was to get it below her rib cage and away from her vital organs. Then they would make a small slit and try to pass the creature out through it. Another hour and they were in position. Kari looked like she was almost getting bored with this. She could certainly feel the thing move, but to her it must have seemed like they were taking an eternity. Moreover she hadn't yet had to feel the pain I had predicted to her. That would change momentarily.

Izzy took a small microphone from next to the control panel and spoke into it. "Kari, we're going to, well, try to make a cut now for us to get this thing out of you." Below, Kari tried to nod. Her head was fastened to the table and so she ended up being forced to nod with just her eyes. It didn't matter either way.

The next move was to use the thing's claw to open up the slit that it was to pass through. Izzy looked at his friends. "You guys might not want to watch this," he warned them. They said nothing in response. Gatomon was the only one who didn't look away.

I watched Kari carefully as Izzy gave Apoc the next order. She had already shut her eyes. Quite suddenly she gritted her teeth, grinding them together in an attempt not to scream. About an inch and a half above her navel and another two inches to her right something could be seen poking at her skin from underneath it.

I watched as the slit was opened. Kari did finally start to scream as it happened. Gatomon cringed, but to her credit managed not to look away. Even as Izzy guided Apoc in moving the arms and head out she stayed constant. The body of the small creature, and then the legs and finally the long and twisting tail were carefully guided out

As soon as the creature was out it was rushed by Apoc into a spherical cage in the corner. As soon as the cage was secure the door to the room opened, admitting Garret and Blitz to the room. Garret grabbed the cage and carried it out of the room quickly, while Apoc still had control over it. Blitz began to tend to Kari's wounded stomach with his magic.

"I find it amazing," Mew started up right in my ear, "that you can reduce something like this to mere numbers." She had been reading my mind. This wasn't the time to discuss that though. I summoned within myself a thought to counter her snide remark with.

'The universe occurs moment by moment. It never skips, never looks past, never ignores, and never forgets what it has done.'


	19. Chapter 18: Beyond the Sun

Chapter 18: Beyond the Sun

It's always fun to pay dodge the sun flares. Most of them are rather small, just little licks of fire that dance across the surface of the star. I like to float in my little pink protective bubble of energy and get as close as I can to the sun, then zip out of the way of the bursts of fire. It's never dull, and I haven't been hit yet. A few unexpectedly large ones caught the edge of my bubble, but that's what the bubble is there for.

Right now I wasn't playing just for fun. I was passing time until Caleb arrived. I had managed to make him meet with me out here so we could talk. I had several things which I needed to discuss with him at the time, though I knew he wouldn't respond to all of them.

I could see his dragon coming from a good distance away. It was simple grey metal of a particularly indestructible makeup, a sectioned body with no limbs and thrusters below the trailing spike flaps of each section. Caleb could not easily create his own oxygen like I could, so he had to fly in the creature's sealed mouth. It stored a little bit of oxygen. Not much, but enough for Caleb, certainly.

I expanded my bubble to accommodate his dragon. My bubble was able to contain the oxygen we would both need and which I could create from the sparse particles of space. Caleb's dragon stopped in the bubble and opened its mouth, revealing the warrior within. Caleb floated lazily out toward me, breathing a small amount of fire to stop himself. Behind me a solar flare kicked up. The bubble was well out of range of them, orbiting at a rather quick pace so that we wouldn't slip into the star.

"So Mew, what did you want this time?" Caleb asked, not sounding terribly interested.

"Well, I wanted to talk about the alien, and then I wanted to talk about Kari, and then I wanted to talk about, well, I'll think of something else," I smiled at him.

"And what exactly did you want to talk about?" he demanded.

"Well, I was kind of wondering what you thought of Kari, now that you've met her and all," I told him, floating a little bit closer.

"She's an interesting girl. She is fairly smart. She is overly optimistic. She cares a lot about other people," he stated in his overly analytical way. "If you expect a few supposedly positive character traits to change my opinion then you're sorely mistaken."

"I know that," I said. "I just wanted to get your impressions of her. Has she taken a picture of you with that camera of hers yet?" I giggled at the prospect.

"No," came the needless reply. I knew she hadn't, but it was fun to torment Caleb. "Now I get to ask a question."

This I had not expected. I figured Caleb didn't want my opinion of anything. He didn't like to play the games that I did. It was also rare that he didn't understand something. "Shoot," I told him, curious to find out what he could ask.

"Why'd you show up to stop my blade?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, not recalling the instance immediately.

"In the park, the first time I attacked her. Why did you block me?"

"Oh, that," I said, recalling the incident. "I just saw you attacking, so I decided to save her." I knew he wouldn't buy it.

"Bull shit." I was right about that at least. "I told you I wouldn't hurt her and I wasn't going to. I've got better control over my blade than that and you know it."

"Well, I was just making sure. Even the best of us slip up occasionally, right?" Another question that I knew he would answer with a negative.

"Wrong." He was telling the truth, though. He didn't slip up. His brain could outperform a supercomputer. He could split a falling hair, a curly one even, with the diamond saber of his. He did have that good of body control. "You're a conniving little shrew. You wanted to be seen defending her so that she'd trust you."

"That's how the game is played, Caleb," I reminded him.

"We had a deal that you wouldn't interfere," he stated.

"I know we did. I didn't interfere. You were going to stop the blade anyways, so my appearance did nothing to affect the situation," I argued.

"You broke the terms of that agreement, Mew. I won't go back on my end just yet but expect me to use this in the future." Caleb wasn't easy to argue with, mainly because he was so accustomed to being right. He generally was, and he knew he was right here as well.

"I'll make it up to you sometime. How about I bake you a cake?" I asked, laughing.

"You had something else you wanted to talk to me about?" he demanded, not at all roused by my humor.

"Yes, I did," I told him, leveling myself again. "It's about that alien."

"And what about it? Did you lead it in there to torture her more?" he asked.

"That's a low blow, Caleb," I said, indignant.

"I really don't care."

"Fine then," I said, crossing my arms in front of myself. "Anyways, I was looking into it after Apoc released it within that base fluid cage. There was something really odd about it," I told him.

"Continue," he said, nodding at me.

"Well, I looked into its mind myself While Apoc was moving it out and afterwards, and its mind is really abnormal," I told him.

"That's no surprise. It would have to be abnormal to support the body functions of that particular species. I didn't bother looking into it myself," he said.

"No, but I mean it was abnormal because it was too normal. Like when Apoc took control of it, he had to align all of the electrical signals in its mind to match his own," I started.

"Obviously," Caleb agreed.

"But when he released it, they didn't reset like they should have. They remained bound to Apoc's pattern," I explained. Caleb was quiet for a moment, apparently thinking about what this could mean.

"How recently did you reexamine the thing?" he asked, his eyes closed in a gesture of thought.

"Just before coming out here. It's been free of Apoc's signal for over thirty hours now, but it still retains a pattern that is identical to his," I explained.

Caleb was silent, apparently considering what this might mean. I had no idea. In my extensive experience of using psychic powers nothing like this had ever occurred. Caleb could probably figure it out, though. If not he'd consult Slim's database and then he'd surely figure it out. My guess, though, gave us a limited time frame to work in.

"I think it's possible," he began, "that my presence at the time may have created a chaos bend in the immediate area. This normally would have no effect whatsoever on the situation. However, the alien's mind was still in a formative state. The chaos bend is what allowed Slim to lift the locks which bind my mind to my species and rewrite it. Slim's equipment was rather sophisticated, but he also had to work with an already fully formed mind. An unformed mind near a chaos bend could become susceptible to any invading influence because it hasn't perfected its own standard yet. If what you say is true, Apoc has effectively reprogrammed the alien as something else entirely without meaning to do so."

"So what does that mean?" I asked him. It seemed like my impression might have been right.

"It means the following; there is a twenty percent chance that the creature is perfectly normal to its species, there is a twenty percent chance that it is insane or mentally challenged to its species, there is a forty percent chance that it is entirely dysfunctional as a life from and its mind simply does not operate, and there is a twenty percent chance that it will assimilate Apoc's mind pattern and gain some form of advanced intelligence," Caleb explained.

"Throw out the dysfunctional idea," I told him. "It seems fully functional to me. It walks and squeaks and responds to outside influence."

"In that case we need to consider the other three options. When does Gaustal plan on terminating it?" he asked.

"As soon as Sablin gathers the data she wants from it. She thinks she can make a vaccine that will kill the embryos when they enter a vaccinated body," I explained.

"Useless. Any such vaccine would kill ninety seven percent of intelligent species anyways," Caleb said. "How long?"

"Five more hours I'd expect," I replied.

"Go get Kari's camera. I put it in her room. Blitz will have put her to sleep after that ordeal so she can rest," he instructed.

"I'm going to count this is payback for interfering, okay?" I smiled.

"Then don't bother. This doesn't mean that much to me," Caleb said.

"Fine. Meet me in the orange lab," I told him.

"Did you have anything else to say to me out here first?" Caleb asked, his hand moving temporarily to his golden blade so that he could summon his dragon back to him.

"I had a lot to say, but it can wait. You wouldn't listen anyways," I told him. He just stared at me until his dragon closed its jaws around him and left the bubble, rocketing away into the abyss as I watched the stars behind them dance. I turned to the nearby star again, watching the solar flares jump u at me, just barely missing my bubble. "I'll be back later," I promised the flames. I giggled at my own silliness and then focused my mind in. The world around me shifted almost instantly. Teleporting was always so much fun.

I now found myself fin a small, dark room. It was very simple. A few of the things that Kari had brought with her were scattered around the room. On the bed Gatomon was sleeping on a pillow next to the head of her human partner. Sure enough the camera in question was sitting on a nightstand next to the bed. I drifted over as quietly as I could through the air and picked it up. 'Interesting little hobby,' I thought to myself. 'I wonder if she'll keep it when she gets her power.' I decided not to dwell on the thought. Caleb would arrive in about half an hour and I'd prefer to be waiting for him when he did.

Half an hour later he entered the room from the hallway. I really didn't like the orange room. It had lots of pipes and tubes everywhere, wires all over the floor, and generally a mess surrounding everyone who entered. And it was all die-cast in a disgusting orange light. Simply icky.

Sablin was there, banging away at a computer with Izzy right next to her feeding her information. Tentomon was flying around gathering the information which Izzy was feeding her. Other than that the large room was calm and empty.

"So what did you need this thing for anyways?" I asked Caleb as I handed him the camera.

"I want to see what pictures are on it. I think I may be able to use them," he replied, turning the device on.

"Use them for what exactly?" I asked, floating around to see the pictures. "Oh, look how cute that is Caleb," I giggled. It was a picture of Kari holding her cat, Meeko. Her normal cat, not Gatomon. She was about two years younger in the picture than she was now.

Caleb gave me an icy look. I replied with a confused one, but he walked off without saying anything more. I watched him go. I wanted so badly to read his mind and find out what was going through his head, but he was paying too much attention to me right now. Any surface thoughts I could grab that he wouldn't notice would be meaningless. At least I could assume he wasn't doing anything malicious. He wouldn't have let me help if he was, because now I was paying too much attention. He wanted me to know that this was not the repayment of that debt I owed him. Our little game of manipulation would go on with me now at a slight disadvantage.


	20. Chapter 19: Aerial

Chapter 19: Aerial

I saw her again. I was dreaming and I saw her. It was on that dark street. Snow was falling. The trees formed a not quite solid yet still impenetrable barrier along the dark road. There was no sky. The stick wasn't there again. It was just her. The little girl who I could just barely see on the farthest reaches of my vision. I wanted to call out to her, but the stillness prevented me from doing so. The stillness would break if I did, and then she'd be gone. So I ran to her, or at least I tried. As I ran she seemed to walk away from me. I tried to run faster, but no matter how I tried I couldn't catch her. The snow was getting heavier. As I ran she kept fading into the snow, its white swirling mass blocking the girl out of my vision until finally I could no longer see her. I stopped running. I kneeled down in the street, letting the snow drift down and land softly on my shoulder and head, melting gradually into water.

"Kari," a voice sounded from the darkness. Was it the girl? It didn't sound like a girl. "Kari." Clearer this time. I felt something. It wasn't snow or water. It was a hand. The street began to fade.

"Kari, I need you to wake up," Caleb said. When I opened my eyes I saw Caleb above me, gently prodding me with one hand and holding a struggling Gatomon face first against a wall with the other.

"What is it?" I asked groggily. Gatomon stopped struggling.

"Nice going you moron, you woke her up," Gatomon squeaked. Caleb released her.

"As I said, I needed to," he told her. "Kari, please come with me. There's something I need to show you," he said.

"What is it this time?" Gatomon spat. She clearly still didn't trust him.

"I will show you when we get there. Come," he instructed, stepping toward the door. I crawled out of the bed. There was still a mild pain in my stomach, but it was nothing I couldn't ignore. If Caleb had something important to show me then I felt I had to go see what it was. Gatomon wasn't as trusting of him. She made a point of walking between him and me, keeping her eyes locked on him at all times. I figured he must be watching us as well, though I couldn't see his eyes.

He led us out of the dormitory and down the hallway. It was somewhat difficult to keep up with his pace. He knew where he was going and was in some kind of a hurry to get there. He led us into that science lab, the orange colored room. Izzy was sitting at a computer, his face lying on the keyboard, apparently asleep.

"Kari! What are you doing out of bed?" Tentomon shouted from behind us as we were about half-way through the room.

"I need to show her something. It does not concern you as of yet," Caleb stated simply, not even stopping.

"Right but couldn't it have waited until she had…"

"No," Caleb cut him off with a glare that probably would have sent a full grown bear running off into the woods. Tentomon shrank back a little, landing on the ground. "We continue," Caleb stated. Gatomon and I followed. As we left, Tentomon woke Izzy, who got up to follow us as we left the room through another door. We entered a very narrow hallway which exuded a soft sky blue light from panel lights in the walls. Caleb had to enter passwords for three different doors before we finally arrive in a room which looked like some kind of hyper-scientific prison. Weird shaped cages made up half of the room, and the other half was simply filled with boxes of stuff, most of which looked like pure junk.

Caleb led us easily through the maze of cells. All of them were either empty or contained some strange creature which was clearly no longer living. Only the final cage which he led us to seemed to have something alive in it.

The cage was quite the contraption. It was a bubble about two and a half feet in diameter with a tube rising up above it and below it, the intersections smoothing into each other. A slow-moving stream of some kind of transparent gel seemed to be drifting down the interior of the tube. Near the top of the tube, which rose into the ceiling, there was a small hole which allowed air into the cage. Inside of it was an alien. I could only assume it was the one that had crawled out of me some unknown number of hours ago.

"What on earth are you doing?" Izzy asked. He had been tailing us the entire time. Caleb just looked at him. "Well?"

"You can leave if you want. I can promise none of you are in danger. I'm much faster than this thing," Caleb said. I watched quietly as he typed something into a nearby computer. The gel in the tube ceased coming down. The top of it rotated slightly and then began to rise.

"Are you insane?" Gatomon demanded.

"Were you not listening to me just a moment ago?" Caleb asked.

I finally decided to stop him. "Caleb, please, don't let that thing out."

"Why are you are not listening to me?" he asked. The top of the cage was now rising up off of the bottom. It stopped at about three feet, leaving more than enough room for the creature to get out. It did so immediately, jumping through the drips of gel and onto the cool tile floor, where it skidded clumsily and fell on its side with a squeak. It scrambled to its feet. Gatomon lowered herself, preparing to pounce, but the creature just stood there, watching us, its tail swishing calmly back and forth on the floor behind it.

Caleb walked up to in and kneeled down in front of it, staring the thing right in the face. Intrigued, Izzy stepped forward to see what was going on. Caleb was only an inch from its face, and yet it didn't look hostile at all. He then stood up and turned to me. With one hand, he motioned me closer. I hesitated.

"Don't worry, he's quite docile," Caleb stated. "He would never hurt you."

"If you say so," I stammered nervously. Gatomon gave me an astonished look, but all I could do was shrug. I carefully took a step forward, and then another. Inch by inch, I approached the creature.

"Go on," Caleb instructed. I stepped up to it nervously. It watched me with a strange half-interest. It didn't seem threatening. I had never had a very good look at one of them before. This one was smaller than Gatomon, clearly still a juvenile, and the size of its head seemed much smaller in comparison with its body than the way I remembered the adults.

"Normally they are born considerably larger," Caleb began. "They also are typically born with a fully functioning reproductive system and the instincts to use it. This one has a fully potent system, yet it is docile." I knelt down in front of it, like Caleb had done. It made a low, growl-like sound in its throat, but the noise was in no way threatening. It almost seemed to be trying to communicate something.

"What's it doing?" I asked Caleb, looking into the eyes which I saw for the first time set mid-way up the head.

"It's attempting to speak. That's why I borrowed this," he said, pulling my camera from his pocket. "I was trying to teach it."

"No way," Izzy said, stepping forward. "These things can't learn a complex language. It's one thing to say it's docile, but there's no way it could," he was stopped by Caleb's hand.

"I said I was trying. It hasn't learned much yet," he said. He held the camera out toward me. I took and looked at it. The alien started making sounds again.

"Kkkkaaaaaa. Kkkkkaaaa," it repeated the sound several times, then began to make the low growling noise again. It then followed with something that sounded like a poor attempt at a roar.

"What's it doing? It's like," I tried to put words on the sounds it was making.

"Ka," Caleb sounded out. "Rrrr, rrrraaaa. It's trying to say Camera. It has trouble making the sounds, especially the part in the middle.

"Is that the low growly part?" I asked, looking up at Caleb. The little alien moved with me, trying to stay in my line of view. It made the growling noise again, twice.

"It is. I tried to teach it a few different words using the camera and some of your pictures," Caleb explained. I looked back at the alien, who growled twice again. Cautiously, I reached my hand out and touched its head. The creature reacted immediately, pushing its head into my hand and growling repeatedly.

I gave a nervous laugh as I watched the thing nuzzle my hand. It was almost cute, not at all like the monsters we had seen in the ruins. It was so tiny, and when it slipped on its gel-covered feet again and fell over, I laughed a little. It scrambled back to its feet.

"Caleb, why did you bring me here," I said, stroking the creature's head gently. I felt Gatomon walk up next to me, staring in wonder at the creature.

"Because I figured you would be the most likely to stick up for it," Caleb started. "This is not a normal alien, Kari. Its mind was altered when Apoc took control of it. It actually has the capacity for rational thought and more advanced learning. For one thing, it learns quickly. It recognizes a camera and attempts to say camera. It also recognizes you, even though it only caught a brief glimpse of you before Apoc moved it into that cage. It will not take long for this creature to learn language."

"That's amazing," Izzy said, walking up behind me and observing the creature. "We've got to do some more research on this thing."

"It would be best if the alien remained with Kari. It feels safest with her and like all living things it will learn and function better when it feels safe," Caleb stated.

"Kari, are you sure this is a good idea?" Gatomon asked. She must have seen the smile on my face. I actually thought the little alien was cute, in spite of its rather gruesome appearance.

"I think so. It'll be like getting a new pet, or friend, or something," I said.

"I don't know," Gatomon said. "How can we be sure it's not dangerous?"

"Because I promise that it won't," Caleb said. A little bit of annoyance was creeping into his voice, but he Calmed down quickly. "I pose a far greater danger to all of you than that little thing does."

"In that case, I'm keeping it," I said, picking the alien up under its arms almost like a puppy or a small child. "What should we name it, Gatomon," I asked, looking down at her. I thought of something then. "Uh Caleb, is it a boy or a girl?"

"Neither," he responded. "They do not have gender."

"Oh, okay," I said. I looked at Gatomon again. She just gave me the worried look again. I sighed a little. I wanted Gatomon to be excited about this as well. I knew she was only worried about me, though. "I'm going to call it Aerial," I said triumphantly.

"Aaaaa. Rrrrrr. Aaaa," Aerial was now trying to say the name I had just given it, err, him. Even if Aerial had no gender, I figured it would be easier to think of it as a boy. It struggled with the L sound for a few seconds before producing something that almost passed as one. It made me giggle to see it trying to sound out words like that.

"Gaustal is on the bridge. I suggest you let him know about this right away," Caleb instructed. "If he says anything, tell him that I told you to keep it and that I said it was safe."

"Will he accept that?" I asked, setting Aerial down and looking at Caleb.

"He will. I'll watch to make sure he does. In the meantime, Mew finally figured out why I am doing this and wants to talk to me again. You all go on ahead. I am going to stay here and talk to her," Caleb said. I didn't see Mew anywhere in the room. Perhaps she had told Caleb beforehand or something. I had another question, though.

"Caleb, why are you doing this?" I asked. Aerial was making the growling noises again.

"My reasons are my own. Don't trouble yourself over them. Now go," he said simply.

"Do you always have to be so mysterious?" I asked him, picking Aerial up again and carrying him in my arms.

"My business is my own. Leave," Caleb commanded. It would have been pointless to argue, so we obeyed.

As I carried Aerial to the bridge, Gatomon and Izzy in tow, I wondered why Caleb always felt the need to be so secretive. He really seemed to do things with no explanation whatsoever. Everyone kept on saying that he had his own reasons for everything he did, but that didn't seem correct enough for me. I certainly couldn't imagine the motivation for trying to school Aerial. Attacking me didn't make sense. Letting me off the hook after I broke the agreement didn't make sense. Arguing with Gaustal about sending us to Gergundum didn't make sense. Caleb in general didn't make sense. Perhaps Gaustal felt the same way, and that's why he basically gave Caleb leeway to do what he wanted and then proceeded to ignore him half of the time. At the moment it didn't matter, though. I wasn't too worried about showing Aerial to Gaustal. I was much more worried about how Tai would react.


	21. Chapter 20: The Favor

Chapter 20: The Favor

"Tai said he'd be right here," Gatomon said as she returned to our room.

"Great. Thanks, Gatomon," I said.

"Kari, are you really sure this is a good idea?" she asked me. She was still eying Aerial suspiciously as the alien explored the room.

"Of course I'm sure, Gatomon. Look how cute he is," I told her, laughing. "Besides, even Gaustal said he didn't see any reason why he would be dangerous. According to him Caleb doesn't lie very often."

"Very often?" Gatomon asked.

"Stop being so skeptical all the time, Gatomon. I wouldn't want all your fur falling out," I said, finally eliciting a smile out of Gatomon. "Come on, why don't you talk to him?"

"I don't know," Gatomon replied.

"Oh, just try it. I was teaching him to say your name, see," I said as I beckoned Aerial over. He jumped up onto the bed next to me. "See Aerial, that's Gatomon. Can you say Gatomon?"

"Ggggaaaattttaoaoao-" Aerial forced the syllables out of his throat. His mouth clearly wasn't made for speaking Japanese. "Mrmrmrmrooonnn," The growl was almost becoming distinguishable.

Gatomon jumped up onto my lap and looked at Aerial. She reached a claw out toward his head carefully. Aerial snapped his head up and caught Gatomon's paw gently between his teeth. Gatomon tried to jump back in surprise, but Aerial's teeth had a firm grip on her claw. It didn't hurt her though. I knew that from experience.

"Kari, it's biting me," Gatomon said, still trying to pull her paw away.

"I know. I think that's how he shows he likes you," I told her. "Let go, Aerial." Aerial obeyed immediately, looking up at me and growling.

"Mmrraa, mmrraa," he said. I rubbed his head lightly and he snapped back to bite my hand again. His bite was very gentle, not even leaving a mark on my skin.

"See Gatomon, he's just being friendly," I told her.

"I guess so," Gatomon said. Just then I heard a knock at the door.

"Kari, can I come in?" Tai asked from outside the room.

"Sure," I replied, gently pulling Aerial's mouth off of my hand.

"What's up what did you-" Tai stopped up short when he saw Aerial sitting on my bed. He was caught somewhere between leaping at the poor little thing, leaping at me to get me away from it, and leaping away from it all together.

"Tai, this is Aerial. He's my new friend," I told him happily, patting Aerial's back around the short spikes growing there.

"Kari, what on, when," Tai stuttered to find the right question. "Where'd that thing come from?!"

"His name is Aerial," I said again. "And he's the alien that came out of me. Apoc messed up his brain somehow, making him really smart," I explained. "He's even learning to talk!"

"Are you… You're kidding, right?" Tai asked, his back still pinned against the wall next t

"Not at all, come over and meet him," I replied. "Aerial, this is my brother, Tai," I told the small alien.

"mbro, therrr," Aerial stuttered. Maybe it was just my getting used to hearing it, but I think his growls were beginning to really form into sounds. "Tai." I looked at Tai, smiling, as Aerial repeated his name about eight more times. Tai just stared at the thing, awestruck. Finally he began to step forward.

"It really can talk then?" he asked.

"Yup. He's only two days old, I think, and already he knows words. Pretty soon he'll be able to talk just like a normal person," I said triumphantly.

Now it was Tai's turn to reach out his hand and try to pet Aerial's head. Aerial sniffed his hand a few times before latching onto it, just as he had started doing with Gatomon and me. Just as Gatomon did, he immediately jerked back. He was quite a bit larger than Gatomon, though, and Aerial's firm grip caused him to pull the alien right off of the bed. Aerial released Tai's hand and dropped to the floor with a small squeak.

"Tai, why'd you do that?" I asked.

"The thing bit me!" Tai exclaimed. I picked Aerial back up and setting him on the bed.

"That just means he likes you. He wouldn't hurt you," I explained. Tai carefully scrutinized his hand.

"I guess so," he replied.

"There, now shouldn't we go introduce him to everyone else?" I asked, picking Aerial up.

"You can. Gaustal mentioned that he wanted to talk to me earlier," Tai replied.

"If you say so. Say goodbye Aerial," I smiled. Aerial tried to choke out the word, but wasn't able to assemble it correctly. Tai reached forward and patted his head cautiously. Aerial snapped at him again, but this time Tai pulled his hand back in time.

"Heh, see ya," Tai said, stepping backwards out of the room.

"Bye!" I said as a wide smile spread quickly across my face. I was holding in the urge to laugh. After Tai was gone I set Aerial back down.

"Come on Gatomon. I bet Sora will flip when she meets Aerial," I laughed.

"I can almost guarantee she will," Gatomon replied, following me out of the room.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

As predicted, Sora almost hit the ceiling when she saw Aerial. Matt, Biyomon, and Gabumon did as well. I thought it was rather funny that they'd react like that, but I guess I couldn't blame them. We had the rest of the, well, we had a period of time off. Probably about ten hours. I took another quick nap and picked up some food in that time. Sora and Biyomon were with us for most of it, and I think Sora really started to like Aerial. When we ran into Blitz and Shadow in a hallway the former actually did hit his head on the ceiling. Shadow just kind of stared at him until I explained what had happened.

Gaustal had summoned us again. He apparently had prepared our next mission, as Sablin had located the next piece of Almeadon. This time we had a very interesting team gathered up. Lica, Blitz, and Apoc were there, as were Izzy and Tentomon. Sora and Biyomon were with us as well. Tai, matt, Agumon, and Gabumon had not been asked for, but they showed up anyways.

"Welcome back, everyone. I hope you've all had plenty of rest!" Gaustal began.

"Not really. I wouldn't call fifty hours a lot of rest," Apoc said.

"Fine, I'll give you all another thirty before we depart. The Chaos Emperor said he'd wait as long as necessary," Gaustal replied, placing an enormous emphasis on the Chaos Emperor as if he was dropping some name that would command the respect of the entire audience. As usual, it didn't.

"Spectacular," Blitz replied. "Now get on with it!" Blitz said in an overly enthusiastic, almost epic tone that made the entire room laugh. Gaustal joined in while he waited for everyone to calm down. At least he could take a joke.

"As you wish," Gaustal began again. "The Chaos Emperor has located another map piece for us. It is locked within a strange puzzle room in a cloud city. The city is abandoned, and buildings routinely fall from it as the clouds weaken. I believe the palace we'll be entering has not yet fallen. He will meet us there and lead us to the puzzle room. We solve the puzzle and get the map piece. After that there will only be two pieces remaining!" Gaustal triumphantly held up two fingers, throwing out his chest in his overused not quite majestic way. "Now then, the team will consist of some of our best minds, Izzy, Apoc, and myself. Sablin would come, but she prefers the ship. No worries, we should be able to figure it out. Blitz will come in case of emergencies. Sora, Kari, and Lica will be there as well should a problem arise. Note that I have intelligently thought to include many people who can fly. That way if we do fall out of the city someone can catch us before we smash ourselves to pieces upon the planet's cragged peeks!"

"You've got a way with words, you know that?" Blitz said.

"Can Aerial come too?" I asked hopefully.

"Why not!?" Gaustal replied eagerly. "Wait, what?"

"Never mind," I laughed.

"In that case, we are off!"

"I thought we were going to rest some more?" Gatomon spoke up.

"Oh yeah,"" Gaustal said. "Then I guess you should go do that. Rest as long as you all need. We can depart whenever you're ready, as the ship will enter the atmosphere in about forty minutes."

The room started to empty again. I looked around, thinking Caleb might have been there to listen in, but I didn't see him. "Come on Gatomon. I want to go talk to someone," I said.

"Who?" she asked as she started to follow me out of the room. Aerial trailed behind slightly.

"Caleb of course," I smiled, causing Gatomon to raise an eyebrow.

I knocked on the door to Caleb's room. It was fairly easy to remember which was his, as it was the only door to a room on the inside of the ship that had any signs of use on it. I didn't receive a reply, so I tried the knob. It was unlocked, so I opened it slightly and peered inside.

The light was off and the room was as barren as ever. The beam of light streaming in through the hall revealed the papers on the desk and a figure lying on the bed flat on his back.

I motioned for Gatomon and Aerial to follow quietly. I wasn't sure If Aerial would understand, but he moved quietly enough anyways. I wanted to sneak up on him and scare him awake.

As soon as we were all inside the room, a pillow flew past my head and hit the door, slamming it shut with a loud bang. I looked back at Caleb, who was now sitting on the bed.

"I wasn't asleep. I was thinking," he said. "Don't think you'll ever catch me sleeping. You won't."

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

"Is there a reason you came in here again?" he asked.

"I wanted to show you everything Aerial has learned," I started, "like…"

"Heard it," he said simply. I looked at him curiously, not understanding. "Look Kari, I can hear and see everything that happens on this ship at any given moment as long as I'm on it or within a mile or so of it."

"Oh, okay," I said, slightly disappointed.

"Was that it?" he asked.

"Well, uh, what were you thinking about?" I asked. I didn't want to just leave after that.

"It's not your concern, and hopefully it never will be," he replied coldly. "Get out."

"How come you're always so grumpy?!" Gatomon demanded, sounding angry.

"Anger exists to be tempered. I avoid letting it influence me. This is me," Caleb replied.

"You know Caleb," I started. I had recently decided to try and make Caleb a friend, and I thought an example of someone who was like him might help. "I know another boy who used to act mean and nasty all the time…"

"I am not Ken," he stated blankly, "nor will I ever be anything like him." I looked down. I hadn't expected him to simply crush my idea like that, or for that matter to know who Ken was. But then again…

"You should remember, Kari, I know a great deal more than you think. Some would say I know everything and while this is not true I feel I'm almost to the point. Quite honestly it's not a pleasant feeling. I endure it because I can use the knowledge as it should be used." Caleb's eyes were locked on me, the color in them blinking from shade to shade so quickly that I could hardly tell what a given color was before it would switch to the next one. "I did not find you by accident, Kari. I observed your world and you for a long time. I did extensive research on it to fully understand what it was and when I would have my opportunity. My attack on you was no fluke or random event. It was carefully premeditated. Everything I do is carefully premeditated. I rarely do anything without knowing the outcome beforehand. It's foolish to do anything else. I know Ken. I know his story and all of your stories. It will take a lot more than your ideals to change me the way you think you changed him."

"You're a big downer, you know that?' Gatomon said halfheartedly. I could only agree with her. Just a few minutes ago I had been feeling rather excited. Now I was almost sorry I came.

"I'm not trying to entertain you," Caleb stated. "I will say this, though. I am sorry if I hurt you that day in the park." I looked up again. His eyes were still locked on me. I was a little caught off guard by his comment, but I said nothing. "I have no personal grudge against you. At the time it was the only means I saw of avoiding a catastrophe. My attack was not directed at you, but at something much more involved. Again, with any luck you will never understand it. If you ever need a small favor, ask me. It will be my way of repaying tat debt."

I looked at him, again surprised that he would offer something like that. He seemed so heartless and cold, and yet something wasn't completely frozen about him. It wasn't partially thawed or changed in any real way. As I looked back at what he had done, nothing had ever really been malicious. He always seemed to be carrying on some strange duty that only he understood.

"Can you tell me what that larger thing is?" I asked. "As the favor?"

"It would not be a favor to tell you," he said simply. "It would be quite the opposite, in fact."

"Okay," I said, nodding. I opened the door to leave, but paused to look back as Gatomon rushed Aerial out of the room. "Caleb?"

"What?"

"Thanks."


	22. Chapter 21: The First City of Gold

Chapter 21: The First City of Gold

Sleep. I guess I must have slept for an awfully long time. I had good reason too. I had had a stressful few days, or at least what would have been days. I slept for a good ten hours after returning to my room. Aerial and Gatomon slept too, but they were both awake before me. I spent the next ten hours exploring the ship with Tai, matt, Sora, and Izzy. It had been a while since we had all had a chance to talk together. In fact, since we had entered the ship it seemed like we were all going in different directions. I suppose that's the nature of what we were doing and where we were at the time.

After that I fell asleep again. I must have slept for a long time again, because I awoke to find Gatomon watching me intently.

"Jeez, I thought you'd never wake up," Gatomon said.

"How long was I out for?" I asked as I sat up in the bed. Aerial jumped up on the bed next to Gatomon.

"A good nine hours. You should be plenty rested by now," Gatomon replied. "Gaustal was around a little while ago. We're leaving in about twenty minutes."

"Great," I yawned, stretching. I turned and looked out the window of the room. It looked like we were on an airplane or something. Clouds drifted by a little ways below us and the blue seemed to stretch out forever in any direction I could see. I could tell that the sun, or at least a sun, was high above us at that point, and I suddenly felt lazy, like I had woken up at one in the afternoon.

"Did you get any sleep?" I asked Gatomon.

"Of course I did, but I woke up a while ago. I've been, well, instructing," Gatomon said with a sly smile.

"Instructing who?" I asked. Gatomon just looked at Aerial.

"Go on, say it," the digimon prodded. The next thing I heard surprised me greatly, not just because it was a sentence but also because the syllables were actually fairly clear.

"Kari… is… asleep." Aerial said, pronouncing each sound carefully, like a child trying to climb stairs for the first time.

"Wow, that's amazing," I said, smiling brightly at Aerial.

"Teach… me." Aerial said next.

"Gatomon, does she actually know what he's saying or is he just repeating stuff that you tell him to?" I asked, laughing.

"I have no idea, but if he can make this kind of progress this quickly I'd think he will be able to understand it soon enough," Gatomon said. "For now we should probably get to the bridge."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to hold up the mission, after all," I said.

We reached the bridge only minutes later to find the rest of the announced team already there. Caleb was there as well, but as usually he was off to the side, surveying the scene with only a mild interest.

"And there's the last of them," Gaustal said excitedly. "In that case, there's no reason not to get a jump on this."

"You're not going to make another speech?" I asked, surprised by this change of pace.

"He's got all day to chew our ear's off, so he doesn't have to yet," Blitz told me as he walked past me and out the door. The room started to empty out.

"Let's go kari," izzy said as he passed me.

"One second," I replied. I turned toward Caleb and called out to him. "Hey Caleb! Do you want to come with us?"

"I have another matter to attend to," Caleb said simply, not even bothering to look at me. I just shrugged.

"Okay, see ya later!" I wandered out of the room. As the sliding door closed behind me, there was a slight bump in the ship which made Aerial jump.

"We're just touching down," I told him with a laugh. "At least I think that's what that was."

It turns out that I was right. When I reached the small departure room both of the doors were open. A ladder had already been dropped down from the door. I stopped at the top for a moment to survey the scene. The place looked quite immaculate. Gold shimmered in the sunlight, molded on to pearly white buildings which rose from the fluffy white clouds. It seemed that flattened clouds served as pathways through the city, and if it wasn't for some small amounts of wreckage scattered here and there and the general lack of people I would have thought the city was some kind of sky paradise.

I descended the ladder with Aerial clinging tightly to my back. Gatomon followed gracefully, hopping down from a few rungs up to gracefully alight on the fluffy surface. It wasn't all that fluffy, really. The flat parts felt every bit as hard as concrete. I bent down to feel the cloud path. It was as hard as concrete, but it was also wet. It felt like a sidewalk after a rainstorm.

"If everyone's ready, we'll begin heading for the palace," Gaustal announced. I looked around at the group. Izzy and Tentomon were there, as were Sora and Biyomon. I figured I'd stick close to them. Lica and Blitz were also present. Apoc and Gaustal were the last two members of the team.

"I'd say everyone's pretty much accounted for," Apoc responded. "Do we know where we're going?"

"Biggest building in the dead center of the city," Gaustal explained. "And make sure you stay on the path. It's the only place that I can guarantee you won't fall through."

"I have to admit, I'm a little unnerved about walking on clouds," I told Sora as we started off.

"Just try to think of it like a dream," she replied with a smile. "Gaustal wouldn't take us here if it wasn't safe, right?"

"What's your definition of safe?" Gatomon asked, nodding slightly toward Aerial.

"Uh, heheh," Sora laughed nervously. "In that case just follow him. As long as he doesn't fall through we shouldn't either."

"I don't think logic necessarily applies anymore," Biyomon said.

"Well so far it seems fairly safe," I said. "And this time we shouldn't even find any danger. Didn't he say it was just going to be a puzzle?"

"We don't expect any trouble. Nothing has inhabited this city for many hundreds of years after all," Izzy explained. "But don't let your guard down. We are in a foreign world and we have to be prepared for the unexpected."

"So Izzy, what will happen when this mission is finally over?" Sora asked.

"Well, I guess we'll all go home. There's not much else to do. We're actually well ahead of Gaustal's original schedule for finding Almeadon. With this Chaos Emperor person helping us we may be going home in just another week or two," Izzy explained.

"Wow, that makes this almost seem easy," I said. "If we hadn't already almost been blown up and eaten this would be like taking a vacation!"

"This place does look like it would be a nice vacation spot," Sora said, looking around at the white and gold buildings which towered above us. Occasionally there was a hole in a building or a hole in the clouds themselves where a building may have fallen. After we saw two and the pathways beside them didn't collapse they really weren't scary any more, though.

Everyone stopped so suddenly that I almost ran into Lica, who was walking right in front of me. When I looked up I saw the reason for the stop. One of the most massive structures I had ever seen rose up before us, a little distance away from where Gaustal stood. It sat on its own cloud, a hole surrounding the entire place like some kind of sky mote. The walls were sparkling white and completely undamaged. Gold streaks rose up them to run into gold swirling spires that rose high above the rest of the city. The entire structure seemed to give a sense of elaborate grandeur greater than anything I had ever seen. The golden spires seemed to lose themselves in the glaring sun, their gleam melding with its rays to form a perfect picture of beauty.

"Wow, that's amazing," Gatomon said, staring in awe at the structure.

"Everyone, I present to you the capital building of the Sky City of Jjavani!" Gaustal said, his grandeur for once fitting the moment perfectly, causing the palace to seem that much more immaculate.

"It's beautiful," Sora commented.

"That has to be the coolest building I've ever seen," Blitz said with a grin.

"I can't wait to see what's inside it," I said, running past Lica and toward the walkway which led up to the palace gates, apparently the only means of entering it save flying. As I steppe donto the pathway, however, I noticed a figure standing halfway along it. He looked like a very old man, though his posture was quite impressive. In one hand he held a twisting wooden staff at the top of which was a bough of a tree twisted into the sideways eight-like shape which represented infinity. His cloths were most simple, a rather boring gray robe that fell from his shoulders all the way down to his feet, which were sandaled with rather simple brown thongs. He smiled at me as he saw me approach. The res tof the group walked up behind me.

"Welcome, everyone. I am the Chaos Emperor, and it is my privilege to welcome you all to this most beauteous place, this Shining City of Gold," the man said with a warm smile.

I had heard that before. The sheet of paper in Caleb's room. I don't know why I hadn't realized it earlier.

"A shining city built of gold?" I asked, now intrigued every bit as much as I was awestruck.

"Indeed it is, my child," the Chaos Emperor replied. "You have some familiarity with the ancient text?"

"Not really," I said.

"Tis a shame. They are quite intriguing, if I do say so myself," he replied.

"What ancient texts are these?" Gaustal asked, sounding every bit as enthralled as I was.

"Ah, if I only had the time to discuss it with you all," the Chaos Emperor replied. "I'm afraid I haven't the time. I must show you to what you seek and then I must be off. Now, come along after me. I assure you the pathways are quite sturdy here."

"I understand it if you are pressed for time, but could you perhaps tell us what you can while we walk?" Gaustal asked, pushing past me to catch up with the old man. Everyone else followed us quickly.

"I suppose I could share a tad bit of my vast knowledge with you all. It may aid your understanding of this universe," he said as he proceeded at a rather brisk pace toward the gate of the palace. "You see, there are seven cities which shine of gold, each built by one of seven great races that existed once long ago, at the very beginning of time." We were all gathering up around him to hear what he was saying, captivated by his words. "These seven were the greatest civilizations to ever grace the universe. However, each of them had a critical flaw, and as such each of them was doomed. As they gave in to their flaws, the civilizations were wiped out. Now only their great golden cities remain. They stand as a testament to what once was and what will never be again. Bound outside the very flow of time, these cities have existed unchanged for untold millennia."

"What do you mean bound outside of time?" I asked.

"They are not within the realm of time itself. These cities are no longer touched by the flow of time, by the circle which you are trying to break, or by those who control it. Even when the universe collapses and is reborn, these seven cities remain. They are the oldest things in existence, many many times over."

"Well what were the flaws that caused the civilizations to fall?" I asked him. We were now at the gate of the palace.

"That my dear," he said as he held up his staff to the beautiful golden doors, "is a secret locked within the cities themselves." An odd green energy began to flow around the infinity sign at the top of his staff. With much creaking, the giant golden doors of the palace began to swing open before us.


	23. Chapter 22: Envy's Riddle

Chapter 22: Envy's Riddle

The interior of the palace was even more elaborate than the exterior. It held gorgeous golden carvings and statues of what seemed to be angels with exceptionally long arms. In fact the arms of the winged human-like people in the statue were longer than the people were tall. The images were of many various things. Some were of the construction of buildings in the clouds; some were of giant helicopter-like machines, and still other seemed to be of clouds themselves.

"Why aren't any of the people shown flying?" Sora asked as we walked through the enormous grand hall which we had entered.

"They couldn't," The Chaos Emperor replied as he led us toward a wide stairway with a golden runner. "You see, that was what caused their downfall. They sought to fly like the birds and the clouds, but their bodies were too heavy for their wings to actually lift them into the air. Because of this, they built machines to carry them into the heavens. This city was their final sin. They envied the clouds so much. They wanted to be like the clouds, and so they used their machines and their magics to create a cloud city. Their envy destroyed them, for as soon as their whole people had migrated into the clouds their sun suddenly had a massive solar storm of unparalleled fury. Fire rained down on the cities and destroyed their populations. This, the greatest of their sky cities, somehow survived the terrible Armageddon that the people had brought down upon themselves."

"That doesn't make sense," Izzy said as we ascended the stairway. "They couldn't have caused the solar storm. Even if they were on the ground it would have annihilated them. And if this city was spared, where did all the people go. Even if they died off we'd still see some evidence of their presence."

"According to the legends, the people of this city all leapt to their deaths in their despair," the Chaos Emperor replied. "And believe me, it was their fault. Their envy fueled the sun's wrath."

"But that makes no sense whatsoever!" Izzy protested.

"I am not attempting to make sense, I am attempting to explain this people's history to you," the Chaos Emperor replied. "You'll find that very little in this universe makes sense if you look at it only in the immediate. Unfortunately, my history lesson for today is over. We are here." He stopped us at the top of the long stairway. Down an elaborately decorated hall was a door which seemed to glow with a golden light of its own. "There are three doors. Each door has a riddle inscribed on it in the ancient language of chaos itself. Decipher it and solve the riddles to find your map."

"Sir, please stay a lit-" Izzy never got to finish his request. The Chaos Emperor vanished into thin air. There was no pop or flash or anything. He was just quite suddenly gone.

"That was kind of strange," I said, looking around as if I thought he might just have eluded my vision somehow.

"He said he had only a little time, and he did not lie," Gaustal explained as if he knew exactly what was going on. "Right now we press onward to the three doors." Izzy heaved a sigh but joined us anyways as we marched.

This door was at least as large as the door into the palace, but it was rather unique. It didn't even seem to fit within the palace. It was carved very carefully out of gold, but there was no clear single thing that was carved into it. The entire door seemed to be covered with pieces of things. The only discernable image was a box in the center of the door which had a series of strange symbols on it.

"Is that supposed to be a language?" Apoc asked, inspecting it closely.

"It is, and quite a complex one," Gaustal said. "It took me quite a bit of studying to learn it. The language is that of chaos."

"Chaos?" Gatomon asked.

"Indeed. Chaos is one part of a trifecta of forces which govern the universe. Those three forces are so complex that no single sentient being can fully comprehend them all. The second such force is the Absolute. The last one you may have heard of, as it seems to be the easiest one to discover, though I'm sure you've only scratched the surface of it. That force is Relativity."

"And I care because?" Blitz asked.

"Right right, on to the door then," Gaustal said. "Let's see." He peered carefully at the strange symbols on the walls, examining them closely for about a minute. "Here it is: Three-sided, yet never the same, I am a river's gift to growth."

"Interesting," Apoc said, pondering. Izzy sat down and opened his laptop.

"Do you think a laptop will help you with this?" Blitz asked.

"I'm just trying to employ every tool at our disposal," Izzy replied.

"Brains are better for riddles. Computers can't think critically," Apoc said in agreement with Blitz. "Though a three-sided river might be easier to model on a computer."

"How do you figure it's a three-sided river?" Sora asked.

"Well, they say that rivers are always changing. The three-sided part may be a clue to what river they're talking about," Apoc said.

"We're looking for a river's gift, not a river," Gaustal repeated. In my head I was trying to list everything that a river could give. Water, electric power, fish, transportation, life, good soil, none of it seemed terribly useful to the riddle, so I said something that was overly obvious.

"Well a triangle is three-sided." The comment only got me several dull looks. Everyone was deep in thought, and my comment seemed rather useless. I leaned against the door and stared at the ceiling, trying to recall anything I knew about rivers. They ran, sometimes had waterfalls, were wet, and a host of other obvious things. It made me think of a science class experiment. We had a plastic box and filled one side of it with sand so that it made a small sand-mountain. Then we dropped water slowly onto the top of the mountain and watched it run. It made a little canyon down the middle of the mountain with a river running into the empty side of the box and filling it to make a lake. It was interesting to watch the sand get washed down and spread out by the water into that weird little flat zone thingy. I think it was called a delta.

A light bulb went on in my head just then. A triangle that stood for change and something made by a river. I had seen the triangle in some math class somewhere, and the river part was easy.

"Delta," I said suddenly. "Say that in the other language."

"Oooii oiiii ooioi?" Gaustal said as if he was asking a question. I suddenly found myself on my back as the door flew open behind me, slamming against the wall with a loud thud.

"No way," Blitz said as he looked down the hallway. The second door gleamed about twenty yards away, decorated just as the first was.

"Nice going Kari. What made you think of that?" Izzy asked as he picked up his laptop.

"I have no idea, I was just thinking about rivers," I said with a shrug.

"Who cares?! On to the next door!" Gaustal said happily, rushing forward. We had no option but to follow.

The next door was mostly the same as the first. The pictures were different and the text probably was as well, but I couldn't make it out wither way.

"Now, the next riddle:" Gaustal said, the excitement of solving the first riddle clearly spurring him to unusual levels of enthusiasm even for him. "Eyes more useful now than later but seeing later rather than now."

"Are you sure you translated that correctly?" Blitz asked. "I think the guy that wrote that one could be under the influence of some unknown chemical substance."

"It's a riddle Blitz, it's not supposed to make sense at first," Apoc said.

"The gist of it is some kind of eyes that can only be used in the present but can only see in the future," Izzy said, opening his laptop again.

"But if they can't see in the present then how are they useful?" Sora asked.

"Well, if you can only use them now, but they can only see in the future, then the answer is something that lets you see the future," Izzy said.

"I can see the future when I try hard enough," Apoc responded. "It's not always accurate, but it's usually reliable enough. It gives me a nasty headache though."

"I don't think psychic power is what they mean," Gaustal said.

"Why not? It's just like the mind's eye." Apoc responded.

"Well, okay," Gaustal said. He spoke some more of the strange language. The door didn't move. "No good. Keep thinking."

"Well, what's another word for looking into the future?" Blitz questioned.

"Or perhaps just looking ahead," Izzy said, pounding at his laptop's keyboard. "Gaustal, try the word foresight." Gaustal spoke to the door again in the very strange tongue which apparently consisted of only the o sound and the i sound. The door leapt into action immediately, slamming against the wall with the same force as the first one and revealing the third similarly carved door another twenty yards beyond.

"This is going rather smoothly," Gaustal said happily. "Just one door left and then we can get back to the ship. On we go!"

"This is probably the easiest mission we've ever had," Blitz said.

"Are you complaining?" I asked.

"Not really. I just thought that something cool would happen. Maybe it was this city or the chaos dude, but I kinda hoped we'd see something meaningful. These are just a bunch of silly riddles." Blitz had a point. For such an elaborate lock, the puzzles didn't seem terribly important.

"Final riddle:" Gaustal began once we had all gathered around. "The mightiest of things, freezing time itself, birthing eyes of red, forgetting nothing, writing the world without flaw."

"God," Blitz said immediately.

"Too obvious," came Apoc's immediate reply. "I guarantee that would be everyone's first guess." Gaustal tried it anyways, but the door didn't budge.

"Okay, well what has red eyes?" Izzy began.

"That's a great question. Some kind of animal, perhaps?" Gaustal said.

"Are Aerial's eyes red?' Gatomon asked, peering at the tiny creature who was still standing next to me.

"Not really. Even if they were, Aerial can't exactly freeze time," Apoc said.

"This might be a tough one," Gaustal said as he leaned back against the door.

Gaustal's words proved quite prophetic, as an hour later we still had no idea. We had made a few guessed, from machines to robots, to a television, to a potato, but nothing seemed to make sense. I found myself sitting against a wall staring at my feet. Aerial bounced around next to me, occasionally spitting out the few words that he knew.

"This is going nowhere,' Izzy said as he allowed his head to slump toward his keyboard.

"Well it has to be something," Gaustal said. "We're not leaving until we figure it out."

"Actually, if we get hungry enough I'm pretty sure we will leave, but we'll probably come back anyways," Blitz said.

"I am getting kind of hungry," Gatomon said, slumping over next to me with her tail swaying slightly in the air. Aerial caught sight of the golden ring and watched it intently for a second before hopping up off of my leg and clamping his jaws down on it. Gatomon yelped and jumped away, but Aerial hung on.

"Get off of me!" Gatomon yelled, trying to run away. Instead of releasing her, Aerial chased her about the room, his mouth firmly clamped onto her tail.

They ran in circles around the little space, Gatomon screaming her lungs off at Aerial, Aerial refusing to let go, and everyone else other than Lica nearly rolling on the floor laughing as Gatomon tried in vain to shake Aerial off of her tail.

"Tai will get a kick out of this," I laughed as I held up my camera. I snapped a quick photo of the two running in their little circle. I barely managed to hold the camera straight because I was laughing too hard.

At long last Gatomon got tired and collapsed on the ground next to me. Aerial still didn't release her tail, but she was to worn out to even care anymore.

"Aerial, come here," I said, waving him over. He promptly released Gatomon's tail and scurried over to me.

"Gatomon tail. Fun," Aerial was still bouncing around excitedly.

"Aerial look at this," I said as I scrolled through the pictures in the camera. I showed him the image of Him and Gatomon I had just taken. It was a surprisingly clear shot considering they had been running at the time. Blitz, Izzy, and Tentomon could be seen in the background watching and laughing. Aerial looked at the screen and then looked over the camera as if he expected to see the scene happening behind it. The idea of a picture must have confused him.

"Let me see that," Blitz said, running over with a smile still plastered over his face. He sidled up next to me and looked at the small screen. "Nice," he said with a laugh. "Izzy and me have red eye though."

"Red eye?" Gaustal asked, the laughter being replaced by some other emotion of excitement.

"Yeah, you know, it happens with pictures sometimes," Blitz explained.

"Time-Freezing, red-eye, makes a permanent memory," Gaustal began listing the qualities of a camera. "And it writes, because a picture is worth a thousand words! It's a camera!" Gaustal proclaimed triumphantly.

"You're kidding, right?" Blitz asked, looking up at him. Gaustal didn't answer. He turned to the door and spoke some more of the strange language at it. For the third time we heard the echoing boom of a door hitting a wall.

Beyond the door was a rather simple looking room. It had four undecorated white walls, a plain ceiling, and a very normal tile floor. The only remarkable traits were the piece of paper lying in the middle of the floor and the ball of fire which was floating and apparently burning on nothing directly above the paper on the ceiling.

"I cannot believe that worked," Blitz said in amazement. "That's the most boring answer ever!"

"I stopped caring as soon as it was right," Gaustal replied happily, stepping into the room. With one swift motion he scooped up the paper and returned to the group.

"Now then, if there are no more complaints, I suggest we set off for the ship," Gaustal said, beaming. "After all, there's two pieces of map left to find!"


	24. Chapter 23: The SpaceOscillian Bomb

Chapter 23: The Space-Oscillian Bomb

I stopped outside the castle to take another look back at it. Since we were done solving riddles, I had been thinking of the people that the Chaos Emperor described. I wasn't sure exactly what their crime was. Was it so awful to want to fly? I almost felt bad for them. If they had wings, why shouldn't they be able to fly? Maybe there was some point I was missing. I still didn't entirely understand the idea of a city existing outside of time, after all.

"Kari, hurry up, everyone's leaving," Gatomon told me.

"Oh right, sorry," I said, hustling after the group. I caught up with Izzy and Tentomon. Aerial was trying to catch Tentomon, who was hovering just out of his reach.

"Aerial, stop that," I said, much to Tentomon's relief.

"He's just playing around," Izzy said, looking down at the alien.

"Izzy, please don't say that," Tentomon begged.

"I just find it interesting, that's all. He acts almost like a human child, and his ability to learn words so quickly astounds me," Izzy commented.

"Remember animals that have to walk within minutes of birth," Blitz said, jumping into the conversation from above us. "I was one. Well, kind of. Actually, not at all, but you get the idea. Now tell me why the answer had to be a camera?"

"To be quite honest, I don't entirely understand it myself," Izzy replied. "It's rather farfetched to say that a camera is the 'mightiest of things,'" Izzy quoted.

"Exactly my point! I think the thing is broken," Blitz said, crossing his arms.

"Well we got the map. That's all we were after," I replied.

"I don't care. A camera is not the answer and I will never believe that it is," Blitz said.

"That's awfully stubborn of you," Gatomon said.

"I repeat, I, don't…" he stopped in the middle of his sentence. "Do you hear something?"

"No, but you have better ears than all of us," Izzy said.

"Yeah it sounds…" he was cut off by a very loud sound that we all heard. It was something of an explosion. The scariest part was that it occurred right below us. I hardly had time to look down before the cloud vaporized below my feet. Below it was not an empty expanse of sky, however, but what looked like the inside of a wormhole. I fell into it, my momentum dragging me father in as gravity ceased to exist around me. The sudden transition from walking to falling to no gravity almost made me throw up.

When I regained myself I suddenly realized that I wasn't stopping. The wormhole had been straight so far, but if it ever turned I couldn't stop. We hadn't brought bracelets because we weren't using a wormhole, or at least hadn't expected to be. I desperately looked around me for some source of help. I saw Aerial falling beside me, tumbling out of control right along with me. When I turned back around I saw a flash of bright light. I was forced to shield my eyes, and I opened them just in time to see a large claw grab me around the waist. I twisted around toward the now much larger creature.

"Kabuterimon!" I said happily. In his other claws he held Gatomon and Izzy. With his last available arm he grabbed Aerial, who was screeching like a banshee until he was caught. Kabuterimon managed to stop us using his wings.

"Is everyone okay?" Izzy asked, looking around. I only saw the five us for the moment.

"I'm fine," a voice from behind Kabuterimon said. Blitz drifted around the massive insect digimon and met up with us.

"What in the world happened?" Gatomon asked.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Izzy said.

"Well clearly a random wormhole opened up for no reason in the middle of the sky and we all fell in," Blitz said in a poor impression of academia. "And to make things even more exciting, it closed shortly afterward, before I could recover myself and get back out."

"What do you mean it closed?" Izzy asked.

"I mean it pitched the last two innings of a baseball game," Blitz said sarcastically. "What do you think I mean? It closed up at the other end. Wormholes are just distortions in space, and they can be distorted as well. There is no way to get out where we came in."

"Thanks for the joke, but what do we do now?" Kabuterimon asked, his voice booming above the rest of us.

"Well, there's no way to say where exactly this wormhole leads. However, there's also no way to say how long it will take Gaustal to find us, or for that matter if he can. The wormhole may have shifted when it closed, which means he might not be able to open it again, at least not from the same location."

"So we're lost in a place that nobody can find?" Gatomon asked.

"Well, they could find it, but if it shifted there's no way for them to know exactly which wormhole we got sucked into. Basically they'd be searching the world's biggest haystack for a couple of needles."

"So what do you think is our best plan of action?" Izzy asked.

"Probably to follow the wormhole and see if we find anything," Blitz said. "Even if we only find a fork, they'll be more likely to locate us at a fork than at any point in the wormhole."

"That makes sense I guess," I said nervously.

"There's really not much else we can do," Gatomon said. "Kabeterimon will just have to carry us through the wormhole, since none of us can move effectively through it without wings."

"Let's get going then," Blitz said. "Nothing to be gained floating around here."

The wormhole was rather long, and surprisingly straight. I had no idea how long we were traveling, but it felt like it had been forever and we hadn't come to a fork in the wormhole yet. To make matters worse we were all feeling rather hungry. We hadn't eaten in quite some time and the digimon especially had to eat to keep their strength up. As the tunnel went on and on I was becoming more and more afraid that Kabuterimon might not be able to keep going.

"I'm so hungry," Gatomon moaned, looking down at her stomach.

"We haven't been in the wormhole for that long. Maybe an hour now. You can hold out," izzy said.

"I can't. I didn't eat before we left. I haven't eaten in almost a day I think," Gatomon moaned.

"Whining isn't going to help. We don't have any food, at least not that I know of," Blitz said as he drifted around another corner.

"Eventually we have to come to some kind of planet, don't we?" I asked hopefully.

"Afraid not. The wormhole may only exit out into empty space, or it may not exit at all," Blitz replied. "It's quite possible that this is a solitary wormhole, totally cut off from the rest of the network."

"Well how far have we traveled without finding anything?" Izzy asked.

"Caleb says that wormhole distortions vary. I have no idea how far we've actually traveled, though. Might be like a light year or something," Blitz shrugged. "Remember, just because we may pass a planet or through a planet doesn't mean that the wormhole has to exit there."

The swirling light of the wormhole combined with my own fatigue was beginning to give me a headache. I was still watching as best I could for any sign of an exit or a turn or something that would indicate the possibility of being found, but I saw nothing.

"What are the odds that Caleb can find us?" I asked hopefully.

"Can't say. If he even bothers to look for us he still probably doesn't have much of a chance," Blitz replied. "He'd have a better chance than Gaustal though, come to think of it."

"What do you mean if he bothers?" Gatomon demanded.

"Yeah, isn't he your grandson or something?" I asked. The words came out much harsher than I intended, and I immediately regretted saying them.

"Caleb is Caleb, so no he might not bother with us," Blitz said indignantly.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to say it like that."

"Oh, don't worry about me. I really couldn't care less," Blitz said.

We turned another corner in the wormhole only to find more and more wormhole. The tunnel seemed to go on forever in its bright swirling pattern. Aerial was starting to groan as well. He and I hadn't eaten in quite a while as well, and I could really feel the effects. The thought crossed my mind that we could all simply starve to death drifting in this void or twist or whatever a wormhole is.

We turned another corner, and then another and another. There just seemed to be no end to the tunnel of light. I couldn't tell exactly what direction the tunnel was headed, but I had to guess we were quite far away from the Gyro by now.

"There!" Izzy said suddenly. I looked up as Kabuterimon stopped up short. I had almost fallen asleep, and so I didn't notice the odd change of light. Before us was a very distorted picture of green and brown.

"It's a planet of some sort," Blitz said. "Since there hasn't been a fork, I'd say this is a one-way wormhole. We should go to the planet."

"I agree," Gatomon called out.

"Well, let's go then," Blitz said, beating his wings to approach the swirling barrier. Just as before his body compressed before us until it vanished behind the wall of green and brown light. Kabuterimon followed shortly behind with all of us in his claws.

We found ourselves in a very odd position. We appeared on the edge of a forest with a wall of trees at our back and the beginning of some very strange architecture of some city twenty yards before us. We had to fly down about ten feet to the ground, at which point Kabuterimon promptly dropped us and returned to being Tentomon.

"I really don't want to do that again. Flying in that wormhole was much harder than I thought it would be," Tentomon moaned.

"Do you think they have food anywhere in there?" Gatomon asked as she looked up at the city. The buildings looked quite fantastic. There didn't seem to be any hard edges on any of them. Everything was rounded, even into the ground. It all had a soft, sand-like color and seemed to be made of plaster of some sort. In some of the buildings the shadows of people could be seen moving about. The street before us also seemed to be busy, but the bustle was farther down the street and I couldn't see what was going on at first. Walkways and crossways of all kinds connected buildings together at various points and connected to other crossways, spiraling ever higher up to the summits of the buildings. Occasionally a staircase would rise up into the tangle of suspended paths, linking them to the ground with the same round smoothness of the buildings.

"Even if they have food, we don't have money and we probably don't speak their language," Izzy said.

"We have to try though," I argued. "We can't just go without food."

"What about food?" a voice behind us asked. We all turned to see who had spoken. He was human-like, but not really quite human. He was no more than four feet tall, with a tiny little face set in around chubby cheeks and a chubby forehead. His body looked sturdy. His hair seemed to be very tightly bound to his head and drawn up to the top of it in a short stub that almost made his head look like some kind of vegetable. He wasn't exactly a little person like I had seen back home, but he certainly seemed human.

"Can you actually understand us?" Izzy asked the being.

"Of course I can understand you! This isn't the outside," the person responded. "By the way, I'm Nako. You all must be new around here. Crash land?"

"Uh yeah, sure," Blitz replied. "Nako, um, where exactly are we?"

"You are in the one place in the universe where you need not be worried about where you are!" he said happily. "My new friends, you have had the good fortune to crash land in Utopia!"


	25. Chapter 24: Utopia

Chapter 24: Utopia

_Disarm you with a smile, and cut you like you want me to,_

_Cut that little child, inside of me and such a part of you,_

_Oh, the years burn,_

_Oh, the years burn!_

_I used to be a little boy, so old, in my shoes, and what I choose is my choice,_

_What's a boy supposed to do?_

_The killer in me is the killer in you, my love,_

_I send this smile over to you…_

"Utopia, huh?" Blitz asked. "Great name, but how exactly can you understand us?"

"There is no confusion in Utopia. I can understand what you mean without needing to understand what you actually say," Nako replied. "But none of that is relevant. Right now I should get you all some food."

"That would be wonderful," Gatomon said happily.

"It would be my pleasure. Come along now, follow me," Nako waved to us as he started off into the city.

The city itself was actually quite busy. Nako led us first into a wide street market which was filled with activity. There were a multitude of creatures walking about, gathering up food from various stands. There were about six different races walking around, including several beings who looked like perfectly normal humans. Something seemed very odd about the place, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It wasn't a bad feeling, just a feeling that something was off-track here. Just the atmosphere of the city seemed to be somehow broken.

Nako led us up one of the flights of stairs and onto the pathways in the sky. These paths weren't as busy, but there were still a good number of people walking around. The roundness of everything made me feel a little uneasy as I was walking along the path, but I didn't think it would be right to say anything.

He led us through a door that was just a little too small for Izzy and I. Everyone else walked through it just fine, but we had to duck down a little. Inside was a room that looked slightly miniature, with a simple table and chairs. The edges of these weren't all entirely rounded, but there was a noticeable effort to keep with the theme of the city. On the table was a large bowl full of an odd looking pink-skinned fruit that vaguely resembled a lemon.

"Eat some of these. They're quite delicious," Nako said. "I'm going to send a quick letter. I'll be right back in."

He left the room through another small door, leaving all of us looking at each other, confused.

"Well, they look okay," Izzy said, picking up the fruit. I picked up one myself, as did Gatomon and Blitz. The peel felt like an orange peel, and as I pulled it back it looked like the inside of an orange, except that it was pink. Shrugging, I bit into the fruit.

It was very sweet and a little bit tangy, more so than an orange would be. It tasted almost like pink lemonade, only somehow fresher. "It's good," I announced. The words were hardly out of my mouth before Gatomon ripped hers open and began to eat. Aerial jumped up onto the table and grabbed one of the fruits. He took a big bite right out of the skin but didn't seem to mind it. We all quickly ate our fruit. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until then.

"I told you you'd all like them," Nako said upon his return. "Eat all you want, there millions more where those came from."

"We wouldn't want to be rude," Izzy said.

"Rude? Never! There's no shortage of fruit around here, take what you want," Nako replied.

"Um, thank you," I said, picking up another fruit. Aerial was on his second anyways.

"While you eat, I think I should tell you, the queen will meet with you any time today. We can go to her as soon as you're done," Nako said.

"The queen?" Blitz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes of course. Queen Remedi meets with all people who crash down on Utopia. Not that many do, but on the occasion she likes to speak with them. She is a good queen," Nako said.

"Spectacular," Izzy said. He looked around the room quickly. "Um, do you have a garbage can?"

"It is that hole in the wall. The hole leads back into the planet," Nako said. Izzy deposited the peels that remained from his fruit in the hole. After we had all done likewise, Nako led us out onto the sky walkways again.

As we passed over the city markets, I began to notice that there were no shopkeepers behind any of the Carts or stands. People were simply picking fruit up from the carts and walking away.

Gatomon poked my leg, causing me to look down at her. She was looking up at me and pointing forward. Before us was a massive palace, built in the same style as the rest of the city but on a much grander scale. In some ways it was majestic that something so large could be built like that, with no sharp edges anywhere, and in some ways it wasn't as majestic as I'd expect a palace to be. Perhaps it was that weird sense of something being innately wrong that gave me that impression, but I didn't really have time to think about it as we were being led inside.

The doors were wide open and no guards were posted anywhere. It seemed that anyone could come and go as they pleased. We walked through a large hall and into another smaller one. The round feel of everything was kind of calming after a while, and I began to feel more at ease as we wandered through the corridors with the rounded corners. Eventually we came to a very large double door which was closed. Nako didn't hesitate to open it and walk in, so we all followed.

Inside was the throne room. Again, it was no incredibly elaborate. It did have portraits of various kings and queens hung up neatly in round frames on the walls. Some round diamond-like jewels hung from the ceiling on strings, varying in height and almost seeming to give the impression of falling snow above us. I hadn't noticed it, but the colors in the palace had been fading slowly from the sandy color into a pearly white. The throne room was almost entirely this pearly white color, making it look rather beautiful. The throne at the far end of the room was built in the same style as the buildings. It had a red cloth draped over it, and on the cloth sat the person who must have been the queen. She was spellbindingly beautiful. Her hair was drawn back into the vegetable-like ponytail, just like Nako's, but she seemed to be a normal-sized human. Her face was also a little bit smaller than a normal human's, but it only added to her beauty. Her attire was rather odd, a mixture of white and blue with a few dashes of purple. In her hand she held a simple white pole with no decoration whatsoever.

"Queen Remedi, these people have crashed down upon our planet," Nako said with a small bow.

"Thank you Nako," the queen replied. Her voice was sweet and calm. She sounded a little bit childish, but still she had a somehow queenly presence. Nako left the room, closing the door and leaving us with the queen.

"Um, Queen Remedi?" Blitz asked.

"That is my name," the queen responded with a laugh. "What are all of your names?"

"I am Blitz," the zafara began. "This is Izzy, Kari, Gatomon, Tentomon, and the freaky little thing is Aerial."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," she said kindly. "And I would like to welcome you to Utopia. I'm sure you have questions, and I would be happy to answer them."

"Yes, a few," Izzy said. "Most importantly, is there any way you can help us get off of this planet?"

"Off of the planet?" Queen Remedi asked.

"Izzy," Tentomon said, poking him for his rudeness.

"Oh, it's quite alright. Most people who crash down initially want to leave. You are welcome to try as well, but I warn you that no one has ever managed to get off of the planet. You see, a thick asteroid field orbits us, protecting us from the outside but preventing anything from leaving as well. But fear not. I am certain you will enjoy being here," Queen Remedi said.

"Thank you for your concern," Izzy said apologetically. "Um, I do have another question. What exactly is this place? Nako called it Utopia."

"And it is," Queen Remedi said. "This planet is called Utopia, and it is exactly what its name implies. That is why I feel you will like it here."

"Pardon me for intruding, but my definition of utopia is a perfect world, a paradise of sorts," Blitz began.

"Exactly. This is a perfect world," Remedi replied.

"A perfect world?" I asked. "How can that be? I thought there was no such thing."

"It simply is," Remedi began. "Here on Utopia, there is no war, no strife. There is no hunger, no disease, no problems, and nothing to worry about. Nothing bad ever happens in Utopia."

"How can that be? Are you immortal or something?" Blitz asked.

"Oh heavens no. Death does happen here, but it is not a sad thing. That is usually the hardest thing for outsiders to grasp. A person's death is, for us who live in Utopia, a joyous occasion, for they are free to move on to the afterlife."

"That's, really strange," I said. I didn't just mean the idea about death; I meant the entire concept of a perfect world. It seemed somewhat illogical to me. Perhaps that was what I was feeling before, a sense that this place was different from everywhere else. It made me wonder about something; if this place could be perfect, maybe other places could as well.

"So nothing bad ever happens on this whole entire planet?" Blitz asked. "What if I went outside and started blowing stuff up?"

"You're not going to," Remedi said simply.

"Well obviously, but what if I did?" Blitz asked again.

"This world is many things, but one thing that it is not is hypothetical," Remedi answered kindly. "There is simply no need to worry about such things, because nobody would ever do such a thing."

"Right, but what's to stop someone from doing these things?" Blitz asked again.

"You really don't get it? Nothing is there to stop them. Nothing is needed. It is simply the case that nobody does such things," Remedi said again. "Perhaps you can think of it like this; if anyone did do those things, the world would no longer be perfect. People do not do those things so that the world remains perfect."

"Yeah, but people are, like, greedy and sneaky and stuff," Blitz said. He apparently didn't want to believe that a perfect world could exist.

"What do they have to be greedy for? There is plenty of food and there are homes for everyone. Nobody has any incentive to break the perfect order," Remedi continued.

"But, it, doesn't, make, sense," Blitz moaned. "Oh forget it."

"The more pressing concern is how we are going to get off of this planet and find the Gyros, or at least find our homes," Izzy said. "As wonderful as this place sounds, I'd like to see the rest of my friends again."

"I will facilitate you in every way I can, but I will remind you that many have attempt to leave the planet before and none of them have succeeded," Remedi said. "Now, for your stay here, however brief or long it may be, you will need to be able to operate within our culture. Feel free to take as much food from the market as you need. There is an ample supply of it and famine does not exist. The food is constantly overflowing. There should be plenty of empty homes on the outside of the city. Simply set some kind of object on the tables inside so that anyone looking for a home will know it is yours. Every morning, we ask that you walk out of the city and pick about fifteen fruits from the trees of the forest, and then bring them to the market. That is how the food is constantly restocked. Do not worry about which fruits you bring, at generally evens out in the end."

"Is there anything else to eat besides fruit?" Gatomon asked.

"No, but do not worry. The fruits contain all the nutrients you need to live," Remedi said. "Lastly, there are always many games being played in the open parks of the city. Go there to have fun. Everyone will be glad to have new players. If you ever need anything, advice or just someone to talk to, I'm always here."

We said our thank yous and goodbyes to Queen Remedi and then headed back out of the palace. For some reason I still had a strange sense about this place. It almost felt like a pressure coming in from all around me, very gently squeezing me as I walked around the city. It wasn't uncomfortable or threatening, it was just there. I had to overlook it for now, though. There were more pressing issues at the moment. For one thing, we needed to find a way to contact Gaustal or get off of the planet ourselves. Another thing was on my mind, though. I still wondered in the back of my head how this place could have ever actually achieved a condition of Utopia. I felt like I wanted to study the place, find the secret, and go and tell everyone else. Maybe everywhere could be like this. As far as I could tell, Remedi spoke the truth. All around me as we walked through the city, there was only happiness and laughter. People went about their business smiling, talking, and being friendly. It was like a dream world, and yet for some reason that nagging feeling wouldn't go away.


	26. Chapter 25: The Immortals

Chapter 25: The Immortals

"You never cease to amaze me, Caleb," Mew told me. She had arranged to meet me near another star. I do not to this day understand why she enjoys being near the stars so much. The solar wind and heat were annoying and I had to imagine it was a strain on her mind to keep them away. My only guess could be that she used it as training. That was most likely not the reason though. Mew didn't think like that.

"Elaborate please," I said simply.

"Sending them to Utopia? What on earth were you thinking?" she almost laughed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't find them there," I told her. It was a very small hope but if Mew would overlook one place in the universe it would be there.

"Kari still gives off one of the strongest Absolute signals out there. Of course I was going to find her," Mew said. "That was pretty sneaky what you did with Aerial, though. I've got to say Caleb, you're more engrossed in this chaos theory stuff than even I had imagined."

"Chaos theory?" I questioned.

"Yeah, that whole 'a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and six days later it rains in New York,' stuff," Mew replied.

"My question was in the word theory," I responded.

"Oh, of course it was," Mew said. "Now for my actual question. Do you have any real reason for taking them there?"

"Of course. It's rather simple," I said. "They can't leave Utopia."

"Sure they can. I'll just take them off," Mew said matter-of-factly.

"I was afraid you'd say that," I sighed. Mew could be incredibly annoying at times. "There's a reason that nobody ever leaves Utopia, Mew. Didn't you recall?"

"That whole 'you can only leave of your own free will' thing, right?" Mew said. "Kari wouldn't choose to stay. None of them would."

"It's not a choice, Mew. It's a catch twenty-two," I explained. "Haven't you ever been to Utopia yourself?"

"Of course I have. I wanted to see what it was like. I left just fine," Mew started, confusion evident in her voice.

"But you are different, Mew. You have a strong enough Relative attribute to maintain your free will. I have a similarly strong affiliation with Chaos. Kari, however, has yet to realize her affiliation with the absolute. She's caught in the catch and can't escape," I replied.

"What catch?" Mew asked.

"You are an idiot," I said in amazement. "How can you know so much and yet know so little?"

"Nobody knows as much as you, Caleb. Enlighten me," Mew rolled her eyes.

"As you know, any system becomes more chaotic as it moves farther and farther from its origin," I began. "At the origin it is in perfect order, completely predictable, and unchangeable. As you move away from the origin, Chaos allows change to occur. Utopia is at the dead center of the universe. It is the balancing point for all forces that exist. It is the origin. As such, it is unchangeable. It is the initial condition which is always true. That is the secret of Utopia. There is no free will on the planet. Kari will not choose to leave because she cannot choose to leave."

Mew was silent for a moment as she attempted to think of a loophole. Finally she said, "Well what if it's determined that she chooses to leave?"

"That's what Aerial is for. When you go to ask her, Aerial will say he wants to stay. This will cause her mind to lean the smallest bit toward staying and in a world where there is no free will the smallest bit is all it takes," I explained. Mew stared at me in disbelief. She feared I had finally won our little game. "I had thought you figured that out. No, Aerial was not there so that I could set up the timing for that wormhole and the space-oscillian bomb. I had a reasonably wide window for getting them to fall into it. It is unfortunate that Blitz, Izzy, and Tentomon fell as well. I do not feel sad for them though. They are trapped in Utopia after all."

"You… you little…" Mew's disbelief was fueling her anger. I had expected her to get mad. After all she had just failed in her little dream.

"Words are useless at this point anyways. Don't bother with them," I told her.

"If I told her what you did and why I bet that would tip her mind," Mew said. Her eyes were blazing with anger. She hated me at that moment more than anyone she had ever known. She wouldn't have said that otherwise.

"That's not within the bounds of our game, Mew," I reminded her. "And remember that revealing the nature of our game to her can only weaken her chances of fulfilling your little plan for her."

"I'm getting really sick of this game, Caleb," Mew fumed. Her eyes were burning with an intense pink light. The fire on the surface of the star behind her was swirling with the incredible energy her mind was emitting.

"Mew, we set those bounds for a reason and I will not hesitate to enforce them. I've no mercy to spend on you," I said as I gripped the sword at my right hip.

"I really don't care anymore Caleb. Kill me if you want. Go ahead and try. I am going to Utopia right now to bring Kari back. If you want to stop me you'll have to fight me there," Mew said.

"You've really gone insane," I said. "A fight between the two of us would throw Utopia into chaos. The planet would lose its balance. It would become a predetermined world of absolute chaos. It would bring pain and suffering to that place." I was fuming now as well. She couldn't actually risk ending the peace of Utopia. It would be too inhuman, even for her.

"Exactly," Mew said.

"You can't do that!" I almost screamed at her.

"Of course I can Caleb. You see, I'm playing a new game now." Mew said darkly. "It's called chicken. We both drive at each other with destruction assured for both, or in this case Utopia, unless one of us swerves. All I did was tear the steering wheel off of the car and throw it out the window."

I was stuck. She was right. Even though she was about to break the rules we had agreed to, I couldn't stop her. I couldn't let Utopia fall.

"It's your move Caleb," Mew told me.

At the same time, I couldn't let Mew break these rules. She had been pushing them for far too long. If the rules fell apart Kari was guaranteed to get hurt no matter who won in the end.

"Well?" she demanded.

"Get out of my sight, beast," I said, turning away. I didn't look back at her. I called the metal dragon and it picked me up and flew me away. I didn't have to look back to know my words would hit home. She would go and try to get Kari back from Utopia anyways. She couldn't turn back on those words after that display. She was not going to bend the rules any more. This I knew. I set my course for Utopia anyways. The game was still being played and I had to play it.

Utopia is a fraud of a world. It is immune to the outside and the outside is unaffected by it. An impenetrable field of asteroids constantly circles the planet. The planet itself does seem to orbit a star, but in reality the planet never moves in terms of its absolute position. In reality its sun moves around it. The balance of nearby stars and black holes make this possible. It would not make much sense for the center of the universe to change.

The cities of Utopia are all the same. They are built of a peculiar mortar which is easy to create using the planet's unique soil and the juice from its overly abundant fruit. They sculpt them into curved shapes with no hard edges. In other worlds such a design might be used to create a feeling of safety. Everything would seem soft and forgiving. In Utopia the architecture was born out of that feeling. The people felt soft and forgiving and so their structures were as well.

From the edge of the city I could see them. Mew was not here yet. She was most likely still sulking somewhere. She would take her time in collecting herself before attempting to wrestle Kari free of Utopia's bind over her free will. She would need to be mentally all there and that was one thing she wasn't right now. I would apologize to her later and she would understand and forgive me. Such is the nature of the game we play.

I entered the city as quietly as I could. I jumped across the roofs of their structures. Even if someone did notice me none of them would care. There was no danger here and thus there was no reason to find me dangerous. They cannot fear danger if they do not understand the concept. It does not take long to forget either. The rare person who crashes down on Utopia assimilates quickly into the carefree culture of the place. In mere weeks they lose all ability to sense threats. They become unaware and foolish. Such traits are acceptable in no other place in the universe. Here however they are the norm.

All around me I could feel it. The more time I spent here the stronger it felt. It was a constant pressure coming in from all sides. It was the force of the Absolute. It was strongest here at the origin. It was the central force in predestination. The pressure bound every person on the planet to its will and none of them could feel it. Mew and I could feel it. Remedi could feel it as well. That is what has always made her so faithful to the idea of this place. She knows it will always work. Breaking the planet's hold over free will requires that one feel the pressure and know what it is. The three of us were the only ones I knew of who were capable of this.

I landed softly outside one of the doors in a newer section of the city. Through the door I could see Kari and Gatomon. Aerial was there as well. He was playing with one of the planet's odd fruits. Izzy, Tentomon, and Blitz were in another house immediately next to this one, on my right. I pushed the door open and walked in.

None of them jumped at having someone randomly open the door without knocking. They had been here for only three days and already they were losing their sense of self preservation. Kari's face lit up when she saw me though. Gatomon's shown with relief rather than happiness. She still didn't trust me.

"Caleb! I thought you might find us," she smiled happily. She ran forward and started to try and hug me. I guess the glare I gave her when she did made her stop.

"Right," she laughed. "Anyways, it's great to see you. Let me go get Izzy."

"Not yet," I stopped her. "We'll get him later. I need to speak with you."

"Uh, okay," she said, confused but not really worried. "What is it?"

I didn't respond right away. I was watching Aerial. I knew he had learned quite a bit more language in the last few days. He would say it. As soon as I suggested it he would say it.

"Have you been teaching Aerial?" I said. My eyes were still on him.

"Of course," Kari said. "Aerial, you remember Caleb, right?"

Aerial looked at me curiously for a second before his memory clicked. "Yes, Caleb help me learn," the alien said. Aliens do develop very quickly as a species. His comprehension of language was not a surprise given the way his brain now functioned.

"Kari, you want to leave Utopia, am I right?" I asked bluntly. The idea of leaving was still implanted in her head solely because it had never been presented to her that staying was an option.

"Of course I want to leave. Utopia's nice and all, but I'd rather be home. This place is kind of weird."

"Weird?" I thought out loud. "I see. In that case…"

It was then that Aerial chose to interrupt me. "Leave Utopia?" he asked. "Why leave Utopia?"

"So we can go home and see our friends again," Kari responded simply.

"But Utopia is fun, nice," Aerial said. Kari gave him a strange look. He had planted the doubt. All that was needed was for it to grow and Kari would be stuck here.

"Utopia is pretty nice," Kari said. "And I'd love to live here someday, maybe when all of this is over. But as much as I like it here, I think I still want to leave."

I was almost dumbfounded. That wasn't right at all. I quickly redid my calculations in my head. I never made mistakes with physics and logic. This should have been a deterministic decision on her part. I was planning to take her off of the planet anyways to dodge Mew's revealing our game to her but this scenario completely caught me off guard.

"Kari, what is it that is so weird about this place?" I asked her, my eyes locked on hers.

"I don't know; it just gives me a weird vibe. Not really bad, just strange," she began. "It's like there's this pressure all around me." I stared at her intently. She could actually feel the presence of the absolute. She did not even have the slightest notion of what it was or the power that lies within her and yet she managed to sense the energy around her. She had actually actively defied the planet's power. "Do you think it could be the air pressure? I think I read about it changing at different places in a science book once."

"Kari, you never cease to amaze me," I said emotionlessly. "We are leaving then. Tell Izzy and the others and give them these," I instructed, handing her six of the wormhole bracelets. "I will meet you outside the city."


	27. Chapter 26: A Precious Parting Gift

Chapter 26: A Precious Parting Gift

Somehow I had almost known Caleb would find us. I had started to feel like he really could become a friend. It was true enough that he was nothing like Ken, but that certainly didn't bar him from the possibility. For the moment anyways, I convinced myself that he had come here because he wanted to help us, and the more I convinced myself of these things the more I decided that I didn't need an explanation for everything he did. Maybe it was like Blitz and Shadow said, that it was better to just let Caleb do his own thing sometimes.

"Hey Caleb," I said as he half-left the door. "Do you mind if I go and tell Queen Remedi that we're leaving? I think since she says hello to everyone who comes here, she might want to say goodbye to us when we leave."

He paused for a moment in the doorway before responding. "Remedi is a very smart woman. Listen to her," he said simply. He left without another word, closing the door softly behind him.

Izzy, Tentomon, and Blitz were ecstatic to hear that we were being saved. They wanted to rush out after him right away, but I insisted that we go speak to Queen Remedi first. Caleb had told me to listen to her after all, so I figured he was willing to wait a few minutes.

In three days I had become fairly accustomed to moving through the city. Generally it was wise to take the sky paths unless one had business on the street level as the number of people with business on the street level often made it difficult to navigate, especially in a group. It was never impossible, though, and since there was never a rush to go anywhere it really didn't matter.

The castle was as unguarded as ever, as was the throne room. Queen Remedi was speaking with a Liltie when we arrived, so we waited just outside of the room. I had found out in three days that the smaller people, like Nako, were called Lilties. I had also heard that Remedi was actually half-Liltie herself.

The Liltie waved pleasantly to us as he walked out. I smiled back at him as we entered the throne room.

"Ah, hello again everyone. I hope that you have found Utopia to your liking in these past days," Queen Remedi said.

"Of course," I replied. "Everyone around here is so nice."

"It is a wonderful world," Queen Remedi smiled. "Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?"

"Well, we actually came here to say goodbye," I told her.

"Goodbye? Are you going somewhere? Another city perhaps?" she asked.

"No. Our friend Caleb showed up, and he's going to take us off of the planet," I said.

"This Caleb can navigate the asteroid field?" she asked skeptically.

"He can, or at least I think h can," I replied. "I trust him, and as much as I like it here, I would like to see my home and the rest of my friends again, and we did promise to help Gaustal find that map."

"Of course. I am truly happy for you, and I pray for your safety when departing," Queen Remedi replied, smiling. I was glad she wasn't sad, but then again this was Utopia and I had yet to see anybody actually act sad here. "One question, though. You said your friend was seeking a map. Might I ask what kind of map he is seeking?"

I had forgotten the name, so Blitz replied instead. "It's called Almeadon. It's some kind of Chaos map or something."

"In that case, I have a gift for you all," Queen Remedi smiled. "Please accept it as a token to remember our world by." She rose and faced her throne opening a secret compartment in the back of the chair; she removed a small slip of paper with the familiar freakish symbols scrawled all over it. "I believe that this is a piece of that map which you seek. It has been here for ages and has never really had a purpose. Perhaps it was here so that I could give it to you."

Izzy stepped forward and looked at the map piece carefully. "It is most definitely a piece of Almeadon. I don't know of anything else that would have this kind of writing on it," he concluded.

"Then it is yours," Queen Remedi said, handing him the map piece. Izzy thanked her with a bow. "Now, it is best you go to find your friend Caleb. I wish you the best of luck."

"Goodbye!" I said, waving as we headed out of the room.

"Goodbye. Remember, all of you, the world bends in the face of those who would bend it," Remedi said with a smile.

That was some odd advice. It was fairly simple. I'd heard proverbs like that before that told me I could change the world if I tried hard enough. It was good advice, I guess.

Caleb was waiting for us by the edge of the forest, just outside the city. He was standing patiently next to a tree, his eyes closed. I knew better than to think he wasn't watching us approach anyways.

"So, how exactly did you find us?" Izzy asked as we all gathered around him.

"I found the wormhole you fell through," he said quietly. "I see Remedi gave you a piece of the map."

"Oh yeah, she did," Izzy said, patting his pocket. It occurred to me just then that all of Caleb's sight powers meant he could see through clothes. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would abuse such a talent, though.

"Lucky you. Gaustal will be excited," Caleb said quietly. "He thinks that the Chaos Emperor has told him the location of the final piece."

"That's spectacular!" Izzy said. "Once we find it we can find the Endbringer."

"Yes, if you can find the last piece the map will lead you there," Caleb said. "Best of luck with that." He lifted his tail in front of himself. He had wrapped it around one of those small round devices that Gaustal had called a space-oscillian bomb. He placed the bomb in his hand. "Are you ready to leave? I will not be bringing you back here," Caleb warned.

"We're ready," Blitz replied happily. Caleb lazily allowed the bomb to fall out of his hand. A hole opened up below us in the ground, causing us to fall into it much as we had before. This time, however, we all had the bracelets to wear, and so we were able to stop ourselves.

"So, how far exactly do we have to go until we find the Gyros?" Tentomon asked.

"We will be in here for six hours and thirty four minutes," Caleb replied. "I suggest we start moving now."

And that's exactly what we did. The six of us glided along through the swirling whirlwind of light, following after Caleb who was leading us through a veritable maze of corridors almost completely opposite of the wormhole we had taken to enter. He had his golden sword unsheathed and clutched in his right hand. As I watched him I noticed that he didn't have a bracelet. He was using the energy that the sword was emitting to propel himself through the wormhole. I recalled his attack on me in the park in which he had seemed to inexplicably change directions in mid air. I suppose this sword of his must have had something to do with that.

I drifted up next to Caleb, a little bit away from the rest of the group. "Hey Caleb," I started.

"What?" he asked. His eyes were closed again.

"I was just wondering, why did you come and get us?" I asked. I wanted to elicit a confession, to make him say that he did want to be our friend. He didn't fall for it.

"My reasons are mine. As usual you are better off not knowing them," he stated calmly.

"You always say that. They can't be all that secret, can they?" I asked him.

"They can," he said. His eyes opened and he looked at me. "Kari, I am going to tell you again, I do not do anything without a reason. For fun, for friends, for family, and for the heck of it are not quantifiable reasons and thus I do not use them. Someone in my position cannot afford to use them. Those reasons that are quantifiable and that I do use are all either too complex for you to understand or would prove counter-productive if they were told to someone."

"I have no idea what you just said," I told him. It was true enough. He seemed to enjoy confusing me with all kinds of weird ideas.

"That is perfectly fine. I only half expected you to," he replied. "I need to think on things. Please leave me be."

"Well, all right," I said with a shrug, slipping back away from him.

I always seem to forget how long six hours can be. It's especially long if you're doing nothing but zipping through an endless tunnel which never seems to be any different than it was two hours ago. For those who have never traveled six hours with nothing to do, it's kind of like having too much caffeine before going to bed and then lying there wide awake, hardly even able to close your eyes. As Caleb didn't want to hear our stories about Utopia and we didn't have a lot of interesting new stuff to talk about, especially scenery, the trip seemed to drag on and on.

"Does anybody know how long we've been traveling?" Gatomon asked.

"I forgot to check my digivice's clock when we left, but I'd guess in the area of three hours," Izzy responded wearily.

"Three hours sixteen minutes and nineteen seconds since entering the wormhole as I finish this sentence," Caleb said simply. For some reason I broke out laughing at this. Maybe it was the way he said it, the fact that he could know something like that, or just the incredible lack of anything to laugh at for that whole three hours, but the statement was just funny.

When I stopped laughing, I saw something drifting in the wormhole a ways away. We were in a fairly straight section of it, meaning we were quite a distance away from whoever it was. I thought it was odd to encounter someone while inside a wormhole, especially seeing as it had yet to happen otherwise, but I guess this person had been waiting for us. It was Mew.

As we caught up with her she began to float with us, drifting near Caleb. Caleb looked at her but didn't stop.

"Mew," she said, watching Caleb carefully. She had an odd look on her face, like she was sad about something. It was hard to tell, though, as I couldn't read her face well.

"Go for it," Caleb responded to whatever she had said. She was quiet after that, just following Caleb slightly ahead of us and not really saying anything. She almost seemed to be sulking, and it kind of made me want to talk to her about it. I couldn't though, as I wouldn't be able to understand her. The fact that I couldn't help much only made it harder for me to see her like that.

The relationship between Mew and Caleb confused me. I hadn't seen them together that often, but they seemed to know each other well enough. They didn't get along very well, yet they were always talking to each other about something. Now Mew was acting strangely, or at least strange in comparison with other times I'd seen her. Caleb was his usual icy self, but there was something different there. It was a kind of tension, almost like the kind you feel when a couple gets in a fight and then has to tolerate sitting next to each other on a bus ride or something.

We found the Gyros drifting aimlessly in a large terminal with about fifty different wormholes shooting out in all directions. The ship seemed idle. I suppose Caleb had told them to wait there. Mew and Caleb both stopped a little ways away from the ship. The rest of us stopped as well until Caleb gave us a look that said we should probably keep going and get into the ship. I thought momentarily about trying to follow them, but I decided that it wouldn't work. I couldn't sneak up on Caleb, and he'd probably just get mad if I tried to again. Instead I returned to the ship with everyone else. When we landed inside the small departure room, Tai was sitting against the wall, sound asleep.


	28. Chapter 27: Returning

Chapter 27: Returning

"Should we wake him up?" Gatomon whispered to me.

"Probably best not to," a voice said as the door opened. "He's missed a lot of sleep these past few days." Gaustal walked into the room. "So, how was your little vacation?"

Before we could answer he was already leading us away toward the bridge again. It was like he never lost a step.

"It was really really weird," Izzy started. "We ended up on this planet called utopia, and it was supposed to be a perfect world."

"I do believe I've heard of Utopia before. They say it's awfully hard to get there, though. Something about asteroids," Gaustal said. "Anyways, while you all were off in paradise, we've been working on locating the last two map pieces."

"Actually, we were working on that too," Blitz chimed in. "We made a startling discovery of unparalleled importance. We risked life and limb to gather what turned out to be a crucial bit of information."

"Did you now?" Gaustal asked, his excitement rising.

"Not really," I said. Blitz gave me the classic 'why'd you have to spoil it?' look but didn't say anything. "Queen Remedi gave us a piece of the map as a parting gift."

"You've got to be kidding me," Gaustal said. "That is far and away the luckiest thing that I have ever seen happen to this mission. Let me see it." Izzy handed over the small slip of paper. Gaustal stared at it for a minute, turning it every which way and holding it up to lights in a flurry of examination; if there can be such a thing.

"I checked it myself several times. It seems to be real," Izzy said.

"Indeed, so it is. In that case, we're closer to solving this problem than we realize," Gaustal said happily. "I hate to order you about as soon as you get back, but could you run over to Sablin in the lab and explain just how you got this. Hopefully she can use that information somehow in compiling her universal diagram."

"No problem. I was hoping the same thing," Izzy replied.

"Izzy, can't we rest for a little bit? We did just spend hours flying through a wormhole," Tentomon complained.

"Sure, you can sleep in the lab when we get there," Izzy said, already turned around to head for said lab.

"Speaking of rest, if you four are tired you probably ought to get some. Everyone needs to be at full strength for the next mission," Gaustal warned.

"Why, is it dangerous?" I asked.

"I have no idea. I don't even know what it is, but we had better be ready for it," Gaustal said. In an instant he disappeared into the bridge.

"I am a little tired," Gatomon commented. "A few hours of sleep couldn't hurt anything." She yawned in the middle of the sentence, which sealed it for me. We all needed some rest. I wanted to tell Tai that I was back first though.

"Gatomon, you take Aerial to the room and get some sleep. I'm going to go wake Tai up first," I told her. She just nodded her affirmation, and we split up again.

Tai was still in the air lock, sleeping fitfully against the wall. I knelt down beside him quietly, watching him. He was dreaming about something, something bad. He wasn't really getting any sleep. I set my hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. He groaned and shook his head. His hands reached up and rubbed his eyes before he finally turned to look at me.

"Kari?" he asked, staring at me for a moment as if expecting this to still be his dream.

"Good morning sleepy head," I smiled at him.

"KARI!" Tai sat up and squeezed me into a tight hug. I squeezed him back. "Kari, I thought you were gone," he said in between sobs.

"I missed you too, Tai," I told him. I smiled at no one in particular. In the end, I was glad just to see him again.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"So how exactly did you end up there in the first place?" he asked. We were walking back to the dormitories. Tai especially still looked like he needed some sleep.

"We just kind of fell through the floor, and then the wormhole took us straight there," I said. "I've got no idea what happened, really. I'm glad we did though, since I got to meet some really nice people, and we did get a piece of the map. Really, it was almost kind of lucky that we ended up there."

"I guess you could say that," Tai said. "I was really worried about you guys, though. Next time you disappear, can you warn me first, or something?"

'Sure, I will," I laughed. "But right now you should sleep. Gaustal says we all need to get our rest."

"Yeah, I haven't gotten much sleep lately," Tai replied.

"I figured that," I giggled again. "I hope you haven't been keeping Agumon up."

"I couldn't if I wanted to. He sleeps like a rock when he gets tired," Tai said. "Anyways, I'm sure Matt and Sora will be glad you're back too. I don't know where they got off to though."

"I'll find them eventually," I smiled. Tai gave me one last hug before he went into his room for the night. I could hear Agumon's snores coming from somewhere in the darkness until he closed the door. I should have been sleeping as well, but I didn't want to. I wanted to talk to Caleb. Well, what I really wanted was to talk to Mew, but seeing as I couldn't do that Caleb was my next best bet. The problem was that I had no idea where Caleb was, or for that matter if he was even on the ship yet. The result was that I wandered aimlessly through the corridors of the dormitory, still trying to figure everything out. Something was very strange about Utopia. I couldn't quite place it, but even Caleb seemed to be acting stranger than usual. And to see Mew act that way around him had really thrown me off.

I snapped out of my reverie at the sudden realization that I was at Caleb's door again. It was closed, but it might not be locked. If he was off of the ship, then there's no way he'd be able to see me go in there. I recalled that weird piece of paper again. '_This Shining City Built of Gold.'_ That was the only line I could remember reading, and yet somehow both that cloud city and the Utopian city I had visited somehow seemed to fit into those words. I felt my hand involuntarily reach for the door handle. I had to know what the rest of the sheet said. My finger twisted against the will of my body, straining against the mechanisms of the door itself. The handle turned with a small click and the door shuddered backward a quarter of an inch. I held it there for a moment. If he caught me he'd probably be mad, and why should I be snooping around in someone else's business anyways? That piece of paper, whatever information it contained, it wasn't mine to look at. My mind was warring with itself over this decision. I had never really been a snoop before, but I really wanted to know the contents of that paper. It was my human curiosity battling against my conscience.

MY conscience won out in the end. I closed the door again with a sigh. If Caleb wanted me to see that paper, he'd show it to me.

"Good choice," a voice came from behind me. I spun around, expecting to find Caleb watching me from down the hallway. Instead I found Blitz.

"Oh, sorry," I said, embarrassed. "I didn't mean to go snooping."

"Don't worry, you didn't," he shrugged, walking over to me. "I was watching you the whole time."

"You were?" I asked, both surprised and a little worried by this.

"Yup. I've been trying to figure something out myself. Let's just say that If you had opened that door, you wouldn't be the only one reading Caleb's notes," Blitz grinned. I blushed. Being caught was one thing, but being caught and then realizing that the person who caught you really didn't mean to completely reversed the situation. I had just impeded him on his snooping.

"Still, we shouldn't be going through his stuff," I replied.

"Of course not!" That would be a terrible thing to do," Blitz said. "My point is that I want to."

'I don't get it," I admitted, staring at him.

"You're not supposed to," Blitz said. "Anyways, why exactly are you so interested in Caleb?"

"I don't know," I admitted again. "He's just kind of strange. In some ways I think he wants to be a friend, but he just doesn't know how."

Blitz heaved a big sigh. "Don't worry, he knows how all right," he began. "He just doesn't want any friends. He doesn't want any family, he doesn't really want anything."

"What do you mean?" I asked. If there was ever a tournament to see who could confuse me the most times in one night, Blitz would be favored to win.

"Walk with me," he said, reaching up and turning me by the shoulder, forcing me to follow him down the hall. "Caleb is immensely strong, so much so that he is bound in some ways by the power he controls," Blitz began. "I personally think he's a little crazy about this, but he's very keen about not letting anyone else manipulate his power. It would be pretty bad if someone ever tried to. As a result, he doesn't feel like he can have any connections of any kind to anyone or anything. He thinks that he could be manipulated by people if he gets too close to them."

"So he just shuts himself off from the world?" I asked in wonder.

"Pretty much," Blitz said. "He doesn't think logically, or at least not logically like we think. He thinks on this weird meta-level where everything is completely bogus and the universe is just one big computer program or something."

"But why?" I asked again. Blitz just shrugged.

"Ask him some time. He'll tell you."

"Really?"

"Hell if I know," Blitz grinned. "Anyways, I heard from Gaustal that the last piece is in one of three locations. One of them is your home."

"You're kidding? So we might be going home?" I asked.

"Maybe. Since he expects that would be the easiest option, he also assumes it's the least likely. He's splitting us into two teams and sending us off to the other two places first. Failing that, you might get to visit home a little early," Blitz explained.

"Why exactly does he split us into teams? Wouldn't it be easier to send everybody, and for that matter safer," I asked, recalling the alien planet.

"Because he has a hard-on for efficiency," Blitz shrugged. He must have gathered from the look I gave him that I didn't appreciate the sarcastic comment, because he did the embarrassed half-chuckle that replaces someone apologizing when they make a joke that someone else takes issue with.

"Well, in any case, he didn't say what the teams are. I think he's going to let everybody rest another day and then get us moving. I'll see ya later," he grinned again.

"Okay, bye," I said. Blitz pulled open a door and stepped inside it. I hadn't realized previously that we had stopped moving, but it made sense, seeing as we were now at his door.

I wasn't really particularly tired. For some reason the trip through the wormhole hadn't drained me as much as it seemed to have drained everyone else. In any case, I had just thought of a really great idea. Blitz clearly wasn't the smartest one on the ship. Not that he was stupid; he certainly seemed to be intelligent enough; but the questions I wanted to ask about Caleb needed someone who was a lot smarter. I needed to go find Izzy and Sablin. For some reason Sablin seemed to be the one who knew everything on this ship, so if anybody other than Caleb himself could tell me something about him, she could.

_Author's Note: Thanks everyone for putting up with the delay. I'm glad to report that my final projects and my Compsci exam went very well. I've still got my calculus exam in four days, but I should be able to start churning out chapters again, at least on a bi-daily if not daily basis. _


	29. Chapter 28: The CyberJar

Chapter 28: The Cyber-Jar

I hadn't realized that I needed some kind of special key to get into the laboratory. Apparently Izzy had one, and anybody else who had to be in the laboratory had one, and I guess Gaustal must have had one, but the problem was that I didn't. I tried knocking on the door for a few minutes, but I didn't get an answer. Perhaps nobody was in there, perhaps it was soundproof, or perhaps they were too absorbed in something to answer. Either way, I wasn't getting in so I headed instead for the bridge.

The cast of characters in the bridge was rather unique. Everyone was circled in the middle, speaking to the man I recognized as being the Chaos Emperor. Lica was the only one not with the group. She was staring idly out the forward window at the huge abyss of blackness. I was surprised to see that we weren't in a wormhole. Gaustal was present, of course. Apoc, Shadow, Garret, and Sablin were all speaking with the Chaos Emperor in the middle of the room.

"Kari, welcome to the discussion," Gaustal called out. "I believe you know everyone here."

"Uh," I said, looking around again. "Yeah, I do." I smiled.

"King Chaos man was just telling us something interesting," Shadow said happily. "You're just in time for it!" Garret grunted at Shadow, giving him a dark stare which Shadow mockingly shot back at him.

"Okay, what is it?" I asked. The thought crossed my head that the Chaos Emperor might know something about Caleb. Perhaps if he stuck around this time I could ask him.

"Apparently the last map piece is located within some hole in the ground on Maida," Gaustal said. "The ship's headed there right now."

"Really? That's great," I said happily.

"It is, isn't it," Gaustal mused. "I figure I'll call everyone in about an hour from now and put together a team to run in and get it."

"Why wait?" Apoc asked. "We're practically there already. Let's just go get the thing so we can start decoding it."

"Not an awful idea," Gaustal said. "Shadow, Garret, why don't you round up some people for us?"

"If it's going to be so easy why do we need a team?" Garret asked.

"Because we must not upset the natural order!" Gaustal said happily. "Now go and- oh, welcome back!" I turned around to see the sliding door open. Caleb walked into the room.

He stopped a few feet in front of the door, allowing it to close behind him. His eyes were still changing colors, but at the moment they were locked solidly on the group in front of him. He was staring daggers at them, or rather one of them in particular. I could guess who by the reaction of the person.

"I haven't seen you in some time, Caleb," the Emperor said.

"Oh, so you two know each other?" I asked, looking at Caleb.

His response to me was quick and to the point. "Quiet. Yes I know him." Caleb's face had never looked really happy, but right now it looked particularly peeved.

"Caleb and I have met in the past. We share a very unique relationship," the old man said, stepping forward slowly. The staff with the infinity symbol on it seemed to have an odd pulse surrounding it. "In some ways you could say that we're members of the same team. We play a similar game, after all."

"What did you tell them now?" Caleb demanded.

"Can I butt in here-"

"NO!" Caleb cut Shadow off with a glare that probably would have singed Shadow's fur if he hadn't fallen down backward out of surprise.

There was a cold silence in the room. I couldn't tell if it was because Caleb was so mad or because some kind of confrontation was imminent, but I didn't like it. The feeling of dread I felt was worsened all the more because I had no idea what was going on.

"Caleb, you get so upset whenever you lose control of things. You set events in motion and as soon as a twist comes you erupt in unprovoked anger. I am merely helping your friends here out," the Chaos Emperor explained nonchalantly.

"What did you tell them?" Caleb demanded again.

"I told them the location of the last map piece." The statement made Caleb almost jump back in surprise. His face was a twisted puzzle of confusion, anger, dismay, and some twenty other emotions that left him speechless. "Yes, I told them about the Cyber Jar. The giant contraption is located on the planet they are heading for right now. But of course, you knew that, right Caleb? You know where every piece of the map is."

"I didn't until just recently," Caleb said, his expression returning to one of stalwart anger.

"Ah, of course not. How little we know when we wish it," the Chaos Emperor smiled. "If you have anything to say, Caleb, it would not do to hold your tongue. I fear your fratricidal ideals have you of a different mind, though."

Caleb didn't respond. What resulted was a staring contest between two people who seemed unable to blink. The only person in the room who seemed unaffected was Lica, who kept her eyes locked on some star off in the distance, twinkling in the black abyss outside of the side.

Caleb reached up over his shoulder rather suddenly, grasping the single large blade strapped across his back with his right hand. In a single motion he pulled the weapon from its sheath. The sword was easily three feet long, thick, and almost skeletal in nature. It looked like it should be very easily breakable, appearing almost like one side of the frame of a steel building still under construction. At each intersection a small gem was implanted. Each of the many gems was a different color, and each seemed to glow with a unique aura that seemed almost otherworldly. Without so much as a word, he leveled the blade at the Chaos Emperor.

"Chronos itself," The Chaos Emperor said, his voice drooping. "You would pull that blade on me? I thought we were brethren, Caleb."

"Get out of here," Caleb ordered. His eyes were changing colors so rapidly now that it was impossible to discern any color in them whatsoever.

"Control yourself Caleb," the Chaos Emperor warned. Caleb didn't listen. Instead he lunged forward. There was a very loud sound other than me screaming and collapsing to the ground; only it wasn't Caleb's sword hitting anything. It sounded a little like thunder. It wasn't exactly like thunder. It didn't have the same booming reverberations that thunder typically had. It was more like someone slamming a metal try against a table once. When I looked up The Chaos Emperor had vanished and Caleb was standing in the middle of the bridge, his sword thrust forward into the space the Chaos Emperor had previously occupied.

"You scream too much," Caleb said, standing up and sheathing his sword as if nothing had happened.

"But, I just, you, why did-" Caleb instantly interrupted my stuttering.

"He wasn't going to leave. He can't dodge me other than by escaping with Chaos. I attacked to make him leave," he explained. I looked around the room for someone else to protest against what Caleb did, but nobody would. Perhaps everyone was still scared of him.

"Why did you want him to leave?" I asked, pushing myself back onto my feet. Caleb was silent. He wasn't looking at me, or at least his head wasn't turned toward me. I could just see his right eye. It was moving again, but not in any particular direction, just randomly, like it usually did.

"Caleb?" I took a step forward. He still didn't respond, so I took another step forward, much more slowly this time.

"Kari, I just came to an interesting realization," he said. "I suppose you could call it one of those Chaos theory systems, where two seemingly unrelated events are actually cause and effect."

"What is it?" I asked. I started to reach forward. For some reason I felt like he was still mad and my natural reaction to that had always been to try to calm the person down. I didn't even realize my hand was moving toward him until he finally turned to look at me. I quickly put it back at my side.

"If you go to the Cyber Jar, Gaustal will find the last map piece. If you do not, he never will," Caleb said. He turned away again. For some reason he looked as if he hated himself for telling me that but had to anyways. I couldn't think of any real way to respond. The way he had said it somehow made it much more complicated than it initially seemed.

Gaustal decided that he needed to break the tension somehow. "Great news. Let's get moving then," he said. We'll depart as-"

"You're not going," Caleb said.

"And why not?" Gaustal asked.

"Because if you're in the Cyber Jar you won't find the map piece," Caleb told him. "I have to go. If I have anything else to tell you I'll send word through Mew." Caleb turned and started to walk out.

"But we can't understand-" Gaustal stopped after the door closed behind Caleb. "What in the world is eating him?"

"Who knows," Shadow said, shaking his head. "I think he might have broken his brain from traveling through wormholes too many times."

"That was really confusing," I said. "How are you supposed to find the map piece if it's in the Cyber Jar and you're not there?" I asked Gaustal.

"I haven't the slightest idea, but I'm going to believe him for now," Gaustal said. "I really wish he wouldn't have chased the Emperor off though. I was having a good time talking to him. Nothing we can do now, though."

"Right," I said with a heavy sigh. I obviously wasn't going to get to find out anything about Caleb yet. I half wanted to run out of the room and see if he was still there, but something told me that even if he was he wouldn't talk to me.

'Well then Kari, it looks like you've been assigned to this team," Gaustal said. I think you should go find Sora and your brother, as they would probably be good company for you."

"What about Matt and Izzy?" I asked. It would be nice to do something with everyone for once. I couldn't recall the last time we had all been gathered together.

"I'm afraid that Izzy is going to be bogged down with decoding the map for a while. Sablin and him have been working on it for several hours now, and the best way to help them is to get them the last piece," Gaustal explained. "I don't see any reason why Matt can't come, though."

"All right," I said, smiling. At least most of the gang would be there, or at least those of us that came along on the mission. I shook that thought out of my head quickly. I didn't want to start daydreaming about everyone else right there in the middle of a conversation. I could do that later.

"Would anyone else like to go?" Gaustal asked, looking around the room.

"I'd love to," Shadow said excitedly. "I can never turn down a good chance to get away from you."

"I'll be sleeping," Garret grunted, walking out of the room. It seemed like the events had more annoyed him than surprised him, but I really couldn't have cared that much. In all honesty I was still having some mixed feelings. I was worried about Caleb, but also about what was going on. For some reason I found myself not trusting him very much, and also not trusting the Chaos Emperor. Maybe it was the fact that I still didn't really know anything about this game they kept talking about, or perhaps it was just a feeling that something was wrong like the one I had on Utopia, but it unnerved me. I never really figured out exactly what that feeling was, and now my nervousness about that was rising up again as I got the same kind of feeling about what had just happened. Nothing had gone wrong really in Utopia though. Perhaps I was just getting sick or something. Then again, that wouldn't explain why I felt like that in Utopia.


	30. Chapter 29: Diabolical

Chapter 29: Diabolical

"Kari! You're safe!" Sora said, wrapping me up in a hug almost as tight as Tai's. "I almost thought you were gone for good."

I had found Sora, Matt, Gabumon and Biyomon in the ship's mess hall. The place was entirely empty otherwise. It was still as clean and blandly white as ever, other than the dishes that my friends had just finished using. And of course Shadow was there after having followed me from the bridge.

"I'm just glad I got to see you guys again," I said happily. "By the way, Gaustal says we're almost done with the map. We just need one more piece, and he's sending all of us out after it."

"Great. After that maybe we'll be done with this crazy mission," Matt said hopefully.

"And then we can go home!" Biyomon chirped.

"Gotta find it first though," Shadow reminded us. "We should get moving. Gaustal set the course as we were leaving. We're probably almost there."

As it turns out, we were actually there. After waking Tai, Agumon, Gatomon, and Aerial, we all rushed to the bridge to wait for the ship to arrive only to find that it had touched down in the middle of what seemed like a very thick and rainy jungle. As far as my eyes could see there was nothing but dense green foliage, dotted occasionally by a small peak of rock sticking up out of the ground.

"This place is called the jagged forest," Gaustal began. "It's because of all the tiny rock shards that you see sticking up out of the trees."

"Seeing as they stick out above the trees, I'd say they're just a wee bit bigger than tiny," Shadow said, indicating a small amount with his fingers."

"Well, they used to be part of a mountain. About eighty miles from here there a giant crater where a volcano once stood. Then about twelve hundred years ago, the volcano actually exploded. And I don't mean it erupted with a big blast, I mean the mountain wholly and entirely exploded. It launched shards of rock high into the air, scattering them across this forest. Now you can see the remains of the mountain peeking up through the tree-tops. Giant stones that were once part of something even bigger. Among being an impressive reminder that not even mountains are permanent, these stones make a spectacular landing barrier. We're about three quarters of a mile away from the Cyber Jar. It's not a bad walk though, by our standards."

"An entire mountain that just exploded?" Tai asked skeptically.

"These rocks are proof enough. Anyways, it's high time you all got going. The sooner we get that map, the sooner this mission is complete!" Gaustal trumpeted.

The forest was primarily two things, hot and damp. It is kind of what you'd expect from a rain forest, but that didn't stop the heat from being annoying. It also didn't help that there were no paths anywhere. Shadow was leading the group; using one of the rocks that Gaustal had pointed to as a guide as he used a series of dark magic lades to slice through the vegetation. It created a path strewn with clipping from trees and bushes, some of which looked like they could be poisonous. The insects that occasionally swarmed us also weren't helping matters.

We saw little enough wildlife other than the bugs. Biyomon spotted a beast that looked like a dark green and black vertical striped saber-tooth tiger, but it ran away. It's probably for the better, since the last thing we needed at the moment was a tiger to attack us.

When we finally reached the indicated rock, we actually found that it stood in the center of a moderately large circular clearing. The ground around it was strewn with leaves and one or two fallen tree trunks, but nothing taller than small weeds and grasses seemed to grow in the clearing. The rock itself was covered almost entirely by moss on one side. I would have said that it was the north side except that by now I had figured out that the old axioms I used to know rarely translate very well to other planets. For the first time in about twenty minutes we could feel the sun bearing down on us. There was a large black cloud on the horizon indicating rain that either would come soon or had already passed and I was half hoping for both options.

"So, where exactly is this Cyber Jar?" Sora asked.

"Gaustal said it should be right around this rock somewhere," Matt replied, walking around the large boulder which was stuck into the ground. I felt something brush against my foot, causing me to yelp and jump up. Some form of little furry rodent ran squeaking away from me as soon as I did and disappeared into a hole in the ground. In an instant Aerial was chasing after it, digging with his claws at the hole it had vanished into. I chuckled a bit at this.

"I don't think you're going to catch it," I told him.

"I want to catch it," Aerial replied as he dug deeper. His digging slowed and then stopped after about a foot, and he peered down into the small ditch he had made curiously.

"What is it?" Gatomon asked, walking up to the ditch. In a flash, Aerial's tail swung up over his body and rocketed down into the hole. Instead of the squishy, sickening sound that I expected, there was a soft clank.

"Metal?" Aerial inquired into the hole. We all gathered around to look down at it. A small amount of silver metal had been unearthed in the bottom of the pit, only a foot down. It was entirely flat from what we could tell. Aerial frantically started digging around it, trying to uncover more of the object. After he had revealed a circle of about two feet in diameter he stopped again.

"I think this thing is big," he said, tapping it with his tail blade again. Suddenly the ground around us shook. We all looked around at each other, wondering if it was an earthquake of some kind. All of a suddenly, the metal below jerked, and as it did so did the entire clearing. In less than two seconds, the ground in the clearing began to fall out from under us as if some support for the clearing's floor had suddenly collapsed.

I think we all screamed as we fell down into what I thought at first was just a pit. I felt something grab my leg, and when the noise stopped I finally looked up. Shadow's chain had caught me again.

Down below I could see leaves still tumbling down to a floor which was now covered by dirt and logs. In the center sat the massive rock that had stood in the middle of the clearing. It had broken cleanly in half upon impact and several smaller boulders had fallen off of the two pieces. The floor, indeed the entire space below me seemed to be rounded in some way. It was like a large sphere into which the entire contents of the clearing had crashed. Up from the sphere for maybe about twenty feet rose a very wide tunnel which apparently had existed entirely under the clearing. The tunnel was only a little smaller than the sphere in terms of diameter. The sides of this room appeared to be made completely of metal, probably steel.

Shadow had managed to catch not only me with his chains, but everyone else as well. His wings had sprouted once again, quite a bit larger than before, but he wasn't able to support us all with them and so we drifted slowly down into the hole.

"Nice catch," Tai said as he righted himself on the now dirt and leaf strew floor of the spherical room.

"I do what I can," Shadow grinned. The black chains and his wings both vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. "I can get us out of here by flying back up and tossing some chains down for you guys."

"But this is the Cyber Jar, right?" Sora asked. "It would almost have to be. The last piece of the map is probably in here somewhere."

"So are we going to have to dig through this mess?" Aerial asked, looking up at me.

"I guess we don't really have a cho-" I was interrupted by the room rather suddenly shaking. The gaps in the metal plates which made up the pit suddenly began to glow with light. The place grew gradually brighter as the lights came on. It also began to vibrate slightly.

"Maybe we should get out of here?" Gabumon suggested. It was too late at that point, though. Above us, the roof which had slid open to let us fall slid back into place, the curved pizza-slice like sections sliding back out of the walls. The shaking continued, and then was followed by a powerful jerk in which it seemed that the thing was beginning to rise.

"What on earth is going on?" Tai said as the shaking intensified.

"Tai, we gotta get out of here!" Matt yelled. Suddenly, the shaking stopped. A sudden intense quiet fell over the pit, and over all of us. We were paralyzed, knowing that we should find a way out and yet too mystified to actually move.

There was a loud sound, like a machine revving up. At first it seemed that nothing was happening. The sound only got louder, though, and then high above us, on the sectioned ceiling, two eyes and a giant grinning mouth appeared. I hesitate to call it a face, because that's not what it was. Instead it was some kind of diabolic set of shapes which seemed to be both mocking us and condemning us at the same time. Shortly after that, the Cyber Jar began to spin.

It started off very slowly, but every second the speed increased. The leaves were starting to fly up against the outer walls, and so was the dirt. As the thing accelerated, we were all pushed out to the edges of it.

"What the hell is happening?" Matt demanded.

"This thing is spinning us like some kind of washing machine," Sora said. The spinning was getting faster and faster, causing dirt and leaves to fly in our face as the contents of the Jar were tossed around. As the thing sped up even more, pinning me to the wall, I suddenly remembered the giant rock that had fallen in with us.

"Tai! We've got to do something before those boulders start moving!" I yelled out, my eyes now closed because of the flying dirt. As I spoke, Tai's digivice began to glow, as did Agumon. Even through closed eyes I could see a bright flash of light indicating that Agumon had digivolved.

I opened my eyes for a moment to see Wargreymon enter the spinning tornado which was one form of his Terra Force attack. He rushed headlong into the ceiling with it at full speed. Nothing happened.

"Tai I can't break through," he called down at us.

"Spin the other way!" Shadow screamed up at him.

"How would that help?" Tai yelled.

"Just do it!" Shadow screamed back. Wargreymon complied, slamming once again into the ceiling, between the eyes and mouth. When the Jar began to slow down I understood what Shadow was thinking. It didn't slow down enough, though. It was still spinning. We just had a little more ability to move around.

"Everybody get away from me!" Shadow told us. "Get to the other side of the sphere."

We obeyed instantly, pushing ourselves along the wall as best we could. I squinted back at Shadow through the dust. He was doing something weird with his hands, and he was glowing with an odd black light. As I watched through the dust, a cloud of black energy began to form around him. The cloud sharpened into a translucent sphere, connected to Shadow by a vertical column of black energy which passed directly through his body. The sphere began to expand, apparently unaffected by the whirling of the Cyber Jar. The black sphere expanded until it was roughly the same diameter as the Cyber Jar's spherical section.

Above us, Wargreymon was tiring quickly. The Jar was accelerating again, even faster than before. Once again we were all pinned to the side of it, and when Wargreymon also wore out he was flung to the side of the tunnel above us by the wind which was picking up throughout the Jar. Shadow and his sphere seemed unfazed, though. In a suddenly burst, the sphere turned solid black. A horribly loud sound of whipping wind was heard as the sphere seemed to suck itself into Shadow, along with everything that had been inside of it. Dirt, leaves, the very wall of the Jar, all of it was trapped by the black bubble, condensed, and dragged into Shadow.

As soon as the last shred of wall connecting Shadow to the Jar broke off, the centripetal force tossed Shadow out of the hole he had created. A great deal of dirt and leaves not originally caught by the bubble followed him through the hole.

"We've gotta get to that hole!" Matt yelled out as if it wasn't already obvious. We all began to work our way around the spinning Jar. It was almost impossible to move because of the force, but we made slow progress for a few minutes. The Jar was still speeding up, though, and as I opened my eyes once again I saw one of the smaller boulders in the center begin to shake toward the wall.

"Hurry!" I yelled, trying to speed up. It wasn't much good, though, as the force pinning me to the wall was constantly increasing. Then two more bursts of light illuminated the chaos inside the Jar as Gabumon and Biyomon both digivolved.

Weregarurumon and Garudamon were strong, but barely strong enough to resist the force of the Jar. They pushed their way along the sides of the wall, shoving everyone else along with them as quickly as possible. The boulder which had been shaking suddenly rolled out of place toward the wall, rapidly gaining speed until colliding with the wall and sticking there, severely uphill but now motionless. Other boulders were starting to move as well. To my right I could see the hole that Shadow had made, now just a few inches away Aerial was pushed through first, and then Gatomon. On the other side, Tai and Matt were pushed through by WereGarurumon. Then I fell through.

I shot out like a rocket, streaking through the sky above the forest like some kind of missile. Apparently the Cyber Jar had gone for a flight while we were spinning inside it, because I was now several miles up in the air. I was moving so quickly that I couldn't tell if anyone else was around me. I tumbled down toward the round, speeding away from the Jar and falling toward the forest floor.

Something finally grabbed me around the waist. I was surprised at first, more at the suddenness of falling and then not falling than anything else. I turned to see Angewomon holding onto me. Aerial was gripped under her other arm. I couldn't see anyone else, though. As if reading my mind, Angewomon turned back toward the Cyber Jar. It seemed rather far away, and I was wondering exactly how far I had been flung. The giant device looked exactly like it had on the inside, simply turned inside out. It was also spinning madly out of control, creating a tornado in the forest which was tossing trees around like twigs. Off in the distance I could see a figure in the sky which resembled Garudamon. It looked like she was flying away from us, and also down very quickly. As we approached the Jar I also spotted Shadow on the other side of it, two forms dangling from his chains.

The Cyber Jar now seemed to be falling over, tilting as it spun and then spinning in its new tilt. It almost appeared to be flipping wilding, completely throwing off the tornado. In a brilliant moment of realization, Angewomon stopped flying toward it and started to turn away. I suddenly realized that Wargreymon hadn't had anyone to help him get out, and was probably too tired to crawl out on his own. I suddenly became extremely worried. I started to tell Angewomon that we had to go try to help him, but I was cut off by a horrifically loud sound. The Cyber Jar exploded.


	31. Chapter 30: Caleb's Gift

Chapter 30: Caleb's Gift

The shockwave blew Angewomon backward, sending all of us toppling head over heels through the sky. Some small chunk of metal brushed across my cheek. I felt it slice into me, but not very deep. As Angewomon righted herself, I held my hand up to my face. Looking at it again proved to me that I was bleeding. It wasn't a great deal of blood, but it would probably drip onto my shirt. It was the least of my worries right now, because as far as I knew the Cyber Jar had exploded with Wargreymon still inside of it.

Angewomon immediately began to head back toward the cloud of smoke which existed where the Cyber Jar had previously. A few more pieces of scrap metal fell out of the sky, but none of them came anywhere close to us. As we approached the cloud, we saw Garudamon flying down to the ground below it. I couldn't see any sign of Shadow or Wargreymon now.

When we reached the edge of the cloud the scent of scorched metal was overwhelmingly powerful. It was impossible to see anything within the cloud, but below us we could see the massive hole that had replaced the clearing. Down below, Garudamon had landed in the trees next to massive pit. Angewomon flew down to meet them.

As we landed, Angewomon and Garudamon both reverted back to their standard forms. Tai, Matt, Sora, and Gabumon were all present, having been brought down by Garudamon. I guessed that Shadow had passed off whoever he had managed to catch. Still, this didn't answer my biggest question.

"Tai, did Wargreymon make it out?" I asked hopefully. Tai just looked at me, and then to the ground.

"Shadow said that he didn't see him come out," Matt said. "He's still up there trying to find him."

"Hold that thought," Shadow's voice came from above us. His large black wings disappeared as he dropped to the ground. Something was clutched tightly in his arms.

"Koromon!" Tai yelled, running toward Shadow. Tai stopped running rather suddenly when he ran into a semi-translucent black wall.

"Don't touch him," Shadow said, showing Koromon to us. He was bleeding heavily through the shirt that Shadow had wrapped around him. He was clearly unconscious and his breathing was very shaky. "I only stopped here to let you know I found him. I'm flying him back to the ship now. Hurry and get back yourselves," and without another word Shadow recreated his wings and rocketed off into the sky.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Shadow was waiting for us when we got back to the ship. He hadn't apparently had time to get a new shirt, and dark red blood splotches were visible on his fur.

"Before you say anything, he is alive and mostly stable," Shadow said as soon as we reached the top of the rope ladder.

"Where is he?" Tai asked, rushing up the last leg of the ladder so quickly that he nearly shook the rest of us off. I couldn't blame him, though.

"Same place Kari was when Aerial happened," Shadow said. Tai was off like a rocket. We all followed as quickly as possible, rushing into the lab, whose door was now propped open, and up into the observatory. Gaustal was there, as were Caleb and Mew. Gaustal was scratching his head as if he didn't understand what had happened. Caleb was staring blankly down into the chamber through the glass window. Mew was floating behind him with a rather angry look on her face.

Down below Koromon was slumped down on the table. He was hardly even recognizable. More than half his body was burnt and the blood all over the table indicated that he had been even worse just a few moments before. Blitz was standing next to him, slowly running waves of light energy through the poor digimon.

"He should be fine," Gaustal said, turning to Tai. "He won't be moving for a while, but he'll recover. Digimon are good healers." Tai just nodded and stared down into the mostly empty white room. There really wasn't much to be said.

"Just what was that thing?" Matt asked.

"That was the Cyber Jar. We saw it from the ship but we weren't expecting this to happen. What made it explode?" Gaustal responded.

"I have no idea," Shadow said.

"You threw it off balance," Caleb said without turning his head at all. "When you used the judgment spell you removed part of its mass. After that it spun out of control until the mechanisms running it were too stressed and caused it to overheat. The small amount of hydrogen which fueled the Cyber Jar combusted with the force of a very small hydrogen bomb."

After that Mew launched into a long series of squeaks and purrs which sounded rather angry. Caleb ignored her for a while, and then raised his hand to ask her to stop. She did, still looking every bit as mad as ever.

"I told you that Gaustal would have the last map piece if you went to the Cyber Jar, Kari," Caleb began. "I did not lie." He turned now and walked toward me. His eyes still managed to shake me to the core with their constant color and direction changes. Somehow he seemed to stare right through me in spite of the fact that his eyes rarely locked on me for very long. Standing before me now, he was just a little shorter than I was, but for some reason it still felt like I was looking up at him.

With great deliberation, Caleb reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, folded piece of paper which could have been a light brown napkin. He offered it to me unceremoniously, thrusting it into my hand as soon as I started to reach for it. Unfolding it quickly, I found what I could only guess was the last piece of the map.

Caleb didn't wait for a response. Without any sign of haste he walked out of the room, back into the orange-filled laboratory which connected this room and the main hallway. This time I wasn't going to let him escape, though. I shoved the map piece into Gaustal's hand and ran out after him without so much as a word of explanation.

I chased him into the main hallway and finally caught up with him. He didn't look at me, or at least he didn't turn his head toward me.

"Caleb, can we talk for a minute?' I asked, trying to sound as nice as I could. He didn't respond. I repeated the question and once again he ignored me. So instead I put a hand on his shoulder. This finally made him stop and turn, but I still didn't get the response I wanted.

"I don't feel like talking right now. If I need to say something to you, I'll find you," and with that he shook me off of his shoulder and continued down the hallway. I wasn't going to give up that easily this time, though.

"Caleb can't you please just talk to me?" I begged, still following him. Once again he didn't answer my question. I repeated it again as we got closer to his room, and he still said nothing. He opened the door, walked through, and shut it. He didn't slam it, and he really almost didn't seem mad. He seemed disappointed, which was much the way I felt at the moment.

"I only wanted to be friends," I mumbled. I started to walk away, but the door opened again. I stopped and turned around.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Caleb asked me. I couldn't really manage a response to that, so I just stood there, feeling kind of awkward. He walked back into the room, but he left the door open. I waited for a moment, not sure if I should follow him or not. I'm sure he wouldn't have cared if I left. In fact, he'd probably have preferred it, but I really wanted to talk. Steeling myself to whatever icy glare he was going to give me, I walked into the room.

It really wasn't any help. Even when I thought I was prepared his eyes could cut right through me. It was strange. They had no emotion whatsoever, and yet they seemed so intense. People sometimes talk about silence being deafening. That phrase could describe Caleb's eyes just as well.

"Kari, you do realize that the Cyber Jar was nothing but a trap, right?" he asked me. Before I answered, he blew the door shut from across the room, almost knocking me down in the process.

"Um, well," I thought about it for a second. If Caleb had the map piece all along, then the Emperor could have been leading us into a trap. And if he was, that launched a whole new barrage of questions. He must have inferred from the look on my face that I had figured it out.

"So why do you think I told you specifically to go on this mission, Kari?" he asked me.

"Uh, were you trying to teach me something?" I guessed, confident that if he had been that I had missed the lesson. He shook his head.

"Kari, how much do you trust me right now?" It was probably the oddest question he could have asked in the way it played with my head. A moment before I wasn't even considering the thought that he would lie. For some reason before this moment I had taken everything he said to be true. This time he hadn't even made a statement and already I wasn't sure if I could believe him.

"Um, I guess I trust you," I said, not sure how to answer the question without offending him. Then again, nothing seemed to really offend Caleb all that much.

"So if I had told you that I wanted you to learn something, you would have believed me even though you have no idea what you were supposed to learn. For some reason you came in here with the notion that I'm some all-knowing teacher with every answer and granted I do have a lot of them but you're mistaken if you think I'm helping you, Kari."

I couldn't sleep that night. I was dead tired and my body ached form being swung around in the Cyber Jar, but my mind wouldn't let me sleep. I was remembering when Caleb had attacked us, back home in Tokyo. He had seemed like such a monstrosity back then. What in the world had changed my opinion of him? It hadn't really even been that long since it happened. For some reason my head had chosen to forget that incident in favor of trying to make Caleb a friend. At some point during this journey he had been converted in my mind from a monstrous killer to be feared to a lost soul looking for a friend. Now I didn't know what he was. He clearly wasn't looking for anyone, nor was he lost. In fact, I now believed he knew exactly what he was doing. The problem was that I didn't know what he was doing, and all of a sudden I was afraid of him again.

It began to dawn on me that he held a sort of power over me. He could change my emotion one act, one word, even just a glance. I think I was beginning to see what he meant when he talked about the chaos theory, or at least I could see why he believed in it. He had the power to change how I thought and felt at any time just by being present. It made me even more afraid of him to think about this.

I didn't realize it at the time, but Caleb had taught me something. Not using the Cyber Jar. That wasn't a lesson at all. Caleb had taught me something about the game that he and Mew were always playing. It was a game I still didn't understand, still didn't grasp, but as I lay there sleepless for hour after hour, I did gain my first insight into just how good at playing the game Caleb was.


	32. Chapter 31: Babylon the Great

Chapter 31: Babylon the Great

I watched him there. Floating in the sky behind him, I watched him. I wasn't sure if he could see me or not. I was awfully far away, but I knew Caleb's eyes were good. His mind was elsewhere, though. Even if he could see me, he wasn't concentrating on me.

So I drifted there, in the sky, about a mile behind Caleb. He stood on the edge of the roof of a skyscraper which faced the desolate wasteland before a giant throne-shaped mountain. The city ended where Caleb stood. A seemingly endless expanse of skyscrapers ground to a halt at that building, leaving a wide berth for the wind-whipped dusty plain. Below me the city rose up to its amazing heights. Massive towers stretched on behind me and to my left and right for as far as I could see. The empty, dust-covered streets, the brown, corrosive wind that slid slowly through the alleys and between the constructs by which mankind had once sought to reach the heavens. Most of the buildings were eighty stories high or more. Structures whose architecture could leave even the most traveled wanderer awestruck at their elegance and brilliance. The brown dust that swirled between them, coating them constantly with its perverse presence, seemed almost a living incarnation of corruption living within these hallowed halls. The dust covered every inch of each building, every meter of the statues and gargoyles and monuments which reached outward from the walls toward the heavens. All were cast in gold, lined with silver, plated with diamonds and emeralds. All were desecrated by the dust, entombed permanently in this lightless hell.

Above the city the dust gathered in thick brown clouds, swirling constantly as the atmosphere tried its best to cleanse itself. Nequiquam is a Latin word, an adjective, used to refer to an action that is not only done in vain, but done so much in vain that it achieve an epic degree of uselessness and therefore becomes legend. Thus did the planet try to fend off the curse that its inhabitants had brought upon it. Nequiquam did it struggle. For all eternity would this place be bound by its past, by its mistakes, by its pride. Forever would this city seer the skin of those who entered it. Forever would it sleep under the dust, a pitiful shade of its once great existence. Fallen, then, is Babylon the Great.

"This shining city built of gold . . ." Even across the distance and through the dust storm I could hear Caleb speak those words. He was speaking to me. He wanted me to come closer and so I obliged, drifting quickly across the expanse of what should have been decayed and collapsing structures, held in place by the dust.

I drifted right behind him, only a meter or so away and off to his right a little. He didn't turn, and I could tell that his eyes were locked straight ahead for once. He was staring at the throne, thinking.

I said nothing at first, acclimating myself to the new, fresh streams of dust that blew across my fur from the barren wastes before us. It was difficult to imagine that Gaustal could ever find out about this place. Still, I believed it was possible. I would cause it to be possible. That's what I had to do.

"Why did you give them the last map piece?" I asked, looking at him now. Caleb was silent. The question could not have been unexpected, and yet he didn't have an immediate answer to it. Either that or he felt that the answer should be obvious.

"Come on Caleb, you've got to tell me. You had the rest map and not even I knew that you did. All you had to do was keep silent about it and you would win the game. Period. End of story. What the hell made you give it up?"

"I'm not sure," Caleb replied. That couldn't be it. There had to be something more. Caleb never did anything without being sure of why he was doing it. At least, he never had in the past.

"Mew, there's something very strange about her. Kari is an odd child, to be sure. In spite of everything I know, and everything that I've always believed in, for some reason whenever I talk to her I feel like she actually has a chance," Caleb said. He was speaking in a low monotone. He wasn't even sure if he believed himself when he said that. In that moment it began to dawn on me that Kari actually had a strange effect on Caleb that no one else had managed in almost twenty years. She could actually make him doubt himself, and as much as I wanted to exploit that to the best of my advantage, I had to wait until the right moment, because the trick would probably only work once.

"So, then do you think you're beginning to see things my way?" I asked him, shifting my weight in mid air.

"No. I most definitely am not agreeing with you. Instead I think I am starting to agree with Kari," he explained.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, somewhat lost on how Kari, who didn't even know what this game was, could have an opinion on it.

"It means that she sees the world through a different set of eyes than we do. To be honest I have come to pity her for how little she understands about what she is getting herself into." He finally turned toward me. If Kari had a weird power over him, his eyes had a weird power over everyone else. You couldn't help but think he was reading your soul with them. "I have realized that attempts to view everything in terms of the good that it can do in the world. She even sees you and me and the power we possess as things that can improve the world. It is true in some ways. We do have that power, Mew. I have not changed my course; rest assured of that. I will do so, however, with a new understanding of what exactly I am protecting." Caleb looked away again, back at the throne. It was a sad twist of irony in many ways that the world's future would have to be re-determined here, in the place where it had been determined so very long ago by such very different people. It had to be done though, regardless of whether or not Caleb was on board.

"You still have one question, I believe," Caleb continued, still looking away from me. "I gave her the map piece as a gift to her. She sought to help the world by eliminating the current Chaos avatar and so I enabled her in that regard. At this point I don't feel I have the right to prevent her from achieving what she wants with her life. I do still plan to prevent you, though."

"So you are going to let them kill the chaos avatar?" I question, still skeptical that Caleb would actually let that happen. "Beyond that point there is no precedent. The chaos avatar is a being outside of time, he's lived through every cycle, even through the cataclysms. You're actually willing to risk that?"

"I am," Caleb said simply, still not looking at me. "They'll have to do it themselves, though. I will not help them, and I will prevent you from doing so. Having no quarrel with him ourselves, we have no place in killing him."

"I have a quarrel with him. He keeps resetting the universe," I contended.

"And nobody ever said that doing so was innately wrong," Caleb countered. I couldn't possibly disagree more, but his mind was set. In the interest of avoiding a fight with Caleb that I was certain I could never actually win, I left silence to stand for an affirmative reply and floated backward, away from him and into the city. I wandered in the dust-strewn streets for a few hours, trying to imagine what the city must have been like at its height. Did the sun gleam off of the gold and jewel-clad pillars? Did the streets bustle with the constant sound of business happening? Were the monuments glowing with the reflections of happy onlookers? Could any of that have ever been real?

I teleported away, back to the ship, to see if Sablin had finished her work on the map.


End file.
